Procerus Minuet
by jellyjay
Summary: Everyone has their doubts even the 'oh so great' Prince Zuko. When his thoughts on why his father banished him just about drive him insane, he finally gets the message, his father is evil. Zutara, no cliche'd plot here. COMPLETE!
1. Five Bars Rest

**Hi Guys!**

**Here is the new, lengthened, improved (and this time in-character) version of music! Cookies to the first person who knows what the title means. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA. Kinda obvious don'tcha think?**

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**Five Bars Rest**

**Five Bars Rest: **Not all instruments in an orchestral piece play at exactly the same time. Some have a 'rest' while others play their part. A five (or whatever number) bar rest is a part of a piece of music where nothing is played for a certain amount of bars.

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'"_Ah music," he said, wiping tears from his eyes. "A magic beyond all we learn here!"'_  
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling

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Zuko leant against the railing of his ship, staring blankly up at the night sky. The moon shone so dimly from where it was, but the dim light was enough to light the way for anyone up and about at night. He ignored the cool ocean breeze that blew so lightly through his clothes and hair. All he did was gaze at the stars in the heavens above.

"Prince Zuko," came a gruff voice from behind him. "You should come inside--you will catch a cold if you stay out here…"

"I'm fine, Uncle," Zuko said monotonously as he turned to face his erstwhile relative.

"Is anything wrong?" Iroh asked him, more curious than he had a right to be, in Zuko's humble opinion. "You've been out here almost every night this week. Is there anything you'd like to share?"

Zuko turned back to face the ocean again. After a moment's pause, he answered softly, "No, Uncle, it's fine."

Iroh gave his nephew a scrutinizing look—the same look he wore whenever he _knew _something was wrong. Zuko could feel him staring hard into his back as if trying to read whatever it was he was thinking printed upon it in the most miniscule writing.

"I'm fine, Uncle; now _please_ leave me be."

Iroh, still unconvinced that nothing was wrong, scrutinized his nephew one last time before asking, "Why don't you come inside and get some sleep?" (He already knew Zuko's answer, but it didn't hurt to try…)

"No, Uncle. For the last time, I'm _fine_. I just need some time to _think_." Zuko knew his uncle meant well, but that didn't change the fact that he was getting irritated by the old man's prodding. It _was _his business after all. He heard his uncle give a heavy sigh from behind him.

"Alright, I'll leave you be. Remember, Prince Zuko, I'm here if you need to talk, though…"

Zuko heard Iroh open the door with a loud creak and he heard it shut again, letting him know that he was once again standing alone on the deck.

Thinking about the matters you're obsessed with isn't normally that difficult, but for Zuko, it was becoming increasingly hard to think of new plans to capturing the Avatar. One reason was probably because he was running out of ideas, another being that his mind just didn't want to work and a third something that Admiral Zhao had said not too long ago.

_If your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar. But in his eyes you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation…_

He had never really thought about it until then, and he couldn't help but wonder, _was it true? _Had his father sent him on this mission because it was supposed to be impossible? As much as Zuko hated to admit it, he was hurt at the thought of his father thinking him a failure.

He shook his head. No, it wasn't true. It _couldn't_ be. _Stupid_ _memory,_ he thought. _Stupid_ _Zhao_. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ things were stopping him from thinking about his mission.

Zuko scowled as he failed to push the thoughts out of his mind. _The gods must love torturing me. It's probably a hobby of theirs. _

He sighed in irritation and stole one last glance at the moon before going inside to retire for the night.

* * *

Katara gazed apathetically into the fire, watching it flicker as it danced to unheard music. She should have been asleep, but she wasn't. Why?

_Insomnia_, she figured, but she couldn't help but wonder if it were something else. Something more…

She looked passed the fire to where Aang and Sokka were snoring loudly. _Lucky them_, she thought. She was exhausted, she wanted sleep, but her mind would not let her. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and have a good, long, gods-forsaken _nap_. Was that so much to ask?

Sighing in frustration, Katara buried her face in her pillow and shut her eyes tightly wanting _badly_ for sleep to overcome her. Instead, her mind wandered to the (rather depressing) thoughts that she had pushed away during the day.

What if Aang _couldn't _save the world? If he failed, if he couldn't master all the elements in time, what _would_ happen then? And, to the events that were currently taking place—how was life in the South Pole without her and Sokka helping around? Surely, it was much harder to get around without them, and what of their father? Was he all right?

Katara shifted to lie on her back. By the looks of the sky and the position of the moon, it seemed as if there were another five hours until dawn. She sighed again and forced herself to look at the bright side.

Of course Aang would be able to master the elements in time. And hopefully her father was all right (_still alive at least…Hey! _She scolded herself for thinking such a thing) and her tribe was getting along _fine _without them (or so she hoped).

Katara turned on her side and closed her eyes with the (more or less) comforting thoughts in her mind and slowly drifted off to sleep…

**Wow, this is the longest chapter I've ever written. R'n'R**

**JJ**


	2. Moderato

**Hey Guys!**

**I take back what I said in the previous chapter-- _This _is the longest chapter I've written. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar..._yet..._Mwahahahaha! Just joking. Don't own it, never will.**

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**Moderato**

**Moderato: **At a moderate pace, moderate time

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'_And the night shall be filled with music,  
__And the cares that infest the day  
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs  
And as silently steal away_.'  
The Day Is Done,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Katara awoke to the sound of waves crashing onto the sand and rocks. Cracking open her eyes, she saw that the sun was fairly high in the sky. Aang and Sokka were already up and were having a rather loud conversation next to Appa, who was lazing on the sand.

"I _told _you camping on the beach was a bad idea!"

Katara groaned and tried to hide in her sleeping bag. Arguments already?

"What are you talking about, Sokka?" she heard Aang ask "innocently".

"Nothing major, just the fact that a bunch of crabs were crawling around in my sleeping bag!" Sokka half-shouted indignantly.

"How'd they get into your sleeping bag?" asked Aang.

"Well, I wouldn't—" Sokka began. He never finished what he wanted to say.

"Katara! You're awake!"

The argument was dropped almost instantly as Aang bounded over to Katara, followed closely by an irritated Sokka.

"About time," he said, watching her struggle to get out of her sleeping bag. "We were about wake you."

"What time is it?" Katara asked blearily.

"Well, you missed breakfast, if that's helpful," answered Aang cheerfully.

Katara's eyes shot wide open. "I slept in? Why didn't one of you wake me!"

"Well, you see, Katara," said Sokka with the air of one explaining something to a five year-old. "You never sleep in, you're always up before the two of us making breakfast and looking for food and lighting up another fire and so on, so we decided to give you a break."

"Give me a break?" she asked dumbly.

"Yep, but now that you're awake, have some breakfast so we can head out of here."

Katara shook her head. "Can't we relax for a while, Sokka? I mean we've been flying for days and we've only stopped once. Appa needs a rest— and a long one at that."

"She's right Sokka. We can't leave so soon. If the Fire Nation caught up to us and Appa hadn't rested well enough…well, we wouldn't exactly get that far, would we? Not only that, but we need to stock up on food."

"What if they _do_ catch up to us while we're here?" retorted Sokka. "Then what?"

"We can always run," replied Aang. "It's not as if we can't see them coming."

After a pause, Sokka sighed. "Fine, but we leave tomorrow morning."

"One night? _One _night!" complained Katara. "Make it two nights and we'll shut up."

"One night," said Sokka.

"Two,"

"One,"

"Two,"

"One,"

"One and a half,"

There was another pause. Aang looked at the two siblings expectantly.

Sokka crossed his arms and looked from his sister to the hopeful young monk watching the argument. "Alright, fine, one and a half nights _only_."

Katara smiled triumphantly and Aang whispered a jubilant "Yes!" Sokka, shot an irritated look at his sister and stuck his tongue out at her.

Katara stared at her brother in disgust. "That is _so _immature."

* * *

Zuko had had a very busy day. He had ordered his crew around, stopped by a village to stock up on supplies, tried to ignore his uncle's tea obsession and ordered his crew around some more. Yep, very busy day. All the thoughts that had plagued his mind the previous night seemed to have vanished and he didn't have a single negative thought about his mission whatsoever. Until—

"Prince Zuko, have you thought up a new plan to capture the Avatar?"

_Darn you, Uncle, _thought Zuko bitterly. All of last night's depressing thoughts zoomed back to him—Admiral Monkey Fa-Zhao's remark and his doubts about his father. _Damn you Zhao and your stupid insults!_

"No," he replied flatly.

Iroh frowned. It wasn't normal for his nephew to _not _have a new plan ready. Oooh, something was wrong. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Yes I'm sure Uncle! Leave the matter alone!" snapped Zuko.

Iroh shook his head. If Zuko didn't want to reveal what was troubling him, then he would irritate him until he did. "Zuko, it's not good to keep things bottled up, please let me know what's wrong,"

"For the love of the gods above, Uncle! Nothing. Is. Wrong!" roared Zuko, flames erupting from his fists.

The sudden outburst of rage did not seem to startle Iroh. He simply sighed heavily and said, "Alright, alright, but if you need to talk to anyone, Prince Zuko, I'm always here for you, remember that." (_Alright fine, I'll ask again later,_ thought the old man.) With that, Iroh left his nephew alone on the deck.

Zuko gripped the railing tightly and scowled. _So, will your father accept you when you bring back the Avatar?_

_Yes! Of course he will! _

_But what if he doesn't?_

Zuko growled in annoyance as his brain continued its mental battle, and once again, he needed time to himself. He crossed the deck and headed straight for the smaller boats kept in the ship.

_A walk is all I need,_ he thought. _Just a quick walk that isn't on this ship._ If this headache was sent by the gods to try and dissuade him from pursuing the Avatar, it was _not _going to work. That was for sure…

**Did you like it? Did you hate it? I won't be able to update for a while 'coz we're going to Taupo in two days (gosh, biggest lake AND largest most explosive volcano in NZ...I'm scared, lol). No internet access for a few days. Sorry 'bout that.**

**Any who, R'n'R**

**JJ**


	3. Vivace

**Hi guys! **

**This is tht last update I'll be able to make 'coz we're going to Taupo tomorrow! Thanks for all your kind reviews, and I'll update as soon as I get back. Apologies to Fluffly who's gone to Matauri Bay and didn't get to beta this.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Vivace**

**Vivace:** Lively

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"_It's a fusion of Jazz and Funk—It's called 'Junk'"_  
Fender, Robots

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Sand crunched under the small iron boat as it sailed swiftly onto the shore. Zuko gazed around the shoreline taking in his surroundings. There was sand, trees and…more trees. Scowling (for no reason-- truth be told, Zuko seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face), he stepped off his boat and walked wearily up to the forest that rimmed the beach.

He wandered aimlessly through the woods for a while until the trees began to thin and he could see the beach again. Sounds of voices and laughter made their way to his ears. He walked forward to the edge of forest and felt his eyes widen at what he saw.

_The Avatar_

Zuko froze. Should he attack them? They were right there, _right _there, but his mind decided against it. For one thing, he was out here alone, and for another, the Avatar and his companions were right next to the ocean—the girl was a waterbender and the Avatar could bend water easily—both could bend extremely well now. They would easily be able to defend themselves and escape his clutches. If he left to get backup, they could leave before he came back. So Zuko did the only reasonable thing he could do—he watched, waited and prayed that they would stay the night.

Zuko growled in irritation. The Avatar was _right_ there, oblivious to his presence and he couldn't capture him. He was like a fly to him, a fly he was so longing to swat, to catch, but he was always _just_ out of reach. Sighing in frustration, he leant against the nearest tree and waited.

* * *

Katara stood on an elevated boulder and bent a stream of water from the ocean while looking at the scroll lying open on a nearby rock trying to imitate the pictures on it. Aang stood beside her doing the same thing while Sokka lazed around on the sand.

He watched the two benders bend the water into walls and streams. A mischievous grin found its way to Sokka's lips as a devious idea worked its way into his head. Standing up quietly, he snuck up behind his sister and tried to push her into the water. Unfortunately for him however, Katara had heard him coming up behind her and stepped swiftly to the side before Sokka could carry out his plan.

As the result of having too much momentum and missing his target, Sokka fell forward and into the shallow water bellow.

"Nice try, Sokka," said Katara grinning broadly at her brother's misfortune. Aang was beside himself with laughter.

"Sadists," muttered Sokka under his breath.

Katara smirked. "I heard that," She created three water balls and sent them hurtling towards her already soaked brother.

Sokka yelped in shock as the first ball made contact with its target. He covered his head with his arms and ran towards the sand.

"That's payback, Sokka!" Katara yelled after him as he ran trying to shield himself from more water balls. Aang, who was clutching his ribs from so much laughter, tried to stop himself from laughing more but failed miserably. The wave that he had been trying to send at Sokka was weakened so much that it looked like a rather odd lump on the ocean surface.

Katara ran after her brother pelting him with more water balls but had a sudden change of mind. She turned to face Aang, a devious smirk on her face and water ball floating just above her palm.

Aang immediately stopped laughing.

"Katara, what are you looking at me like that for,"

"Oh, nothing," she said 'innocently'. She sent the ball of water towards Aang.

Aang yelped and blocked it with a sudden blast of air. "That was close," he said to himself in relief, but did not notice the other five balls of water zooming towards him, soaking him from head to toe.

"What was _that_ for!" he asked looking playfully furious. "I don't really look for revenge, Katara, but this time's an exception!" Raising his arms above his head, he bent a massive wave of water towards her. When the water subsided, Katara stood in knee-deep water, soaked to the bone.

"Both of you are _so_ dead," she said, vengeance etched in every syllable.

* * *

The threesome continued their water fight for almost an hour before heading back onto dry land.

Exhausted, Katara collapsed onto the sand and watched the waves roll by. Aang and Sokka collapsed on either side of her laughing uncontrollably. The sun was beginning to set and the sky had turned a nice orangey-red. It felt so peaceful to just lie there, soaking wet, watching the sun set.

She sighed contentedly before getting up to change into a dry set of clothes. "I'm just going to—" She stopped in mid-sentence. She could have sworn she saw a pair of amber eyes watching them intently, but they disappeared almost as soon as she had spotted them.

Sokka looked at her in concern. "Anything wrong?" he asked.

"I thought I just saw…" she trailed off uncertainly. Eyeing the edge of the forest suspiciously, she strained to see who it was that was watching them. After a few seconds she shook her head. "Don't worry, I think it was just my imagination,"

Sokka shrugged and lay back on the sand as she stood up to change, but he knew, that his sister had _not _been imagining things, just by the tone of her voice. She had seen something…or had it been someone?

* * *

Zuko watched as the Avatar and his friends played in the water laughing and throwing playful threats at each other. They seemed so happy, not a care in the world, as if there was no war and as if they weren't always on the run from the Fire Nation. A small part of him wished he were there enjoying himself too, but he banished the thought immediately. He'd join in, sing, and get drunk at Music Night before he joined the Avatar.

The threesome that were playing in the water stumbled back into shore and collapsed on the sand. _Perfect, _he thought, _They're staying the night, time to get reinforcements_. But as he was about to head back to his ship, he stopped. He watched as the girl sat up and turned around. He had to admit, she was beautiful at sunset.

She froze suddenly and stared right at him.

_Busted._

Zuko hid behind the tree when she saw him hoping that she would ignore what she had seen and say it was her imagination.

Her voice was carried all the way to where he was hiding. "Don't worry, I think it was just my imagination,"

_Whew_. Zuko sighed from relief. Silently, he crept away and headed back to his ship. _You're mine now, Avatar…_

**Did you like it? Did you hate it? **

**R'n'R**

**See ya in a few days!**

**JJ**


	4. Poco a Poco

**I'm BACK!**

**Whew! Three nights under the canvas and four days of action! So much fun...**

**Anyway, apologies to Fluffly who, again, did not get to beta this chapter, and apologies to you guys if this chapter turns out CRAP. I'm still in holiday mode...**

**Enjoy!**

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**Poco a poco**

**Poco a Poco**- little by little

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"_A little and a little, collected together, become a great deal,"  
_Moslih Eddin Saadi, (1184-1291), Persian Poet

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Zuko returned to his ship as swiftly as he could so he could tell his uncle what he had just seen. There was _no way_ he was going to let the Avatar escape _this_ time. However when he reached , the unmistakable sound of the Sungi Horn could be heard, even from the other side of the ship.

Zuko groaned. _Music Night. _Hopefully the crew weren't too drunk yet…

…

…

Hope gone.

As Zuko arrived on the main deck, the men could be heard singing loud, obnoxious, drunken songs and swaggering around the deck as if they had no sense of direction (let alone, common sense) whatsoever. He growled and approached his Uncle who was sitting by a table, but was already exceptionally drunk.

"Uncle! Stop th—"

"Prinzzuko! Come! Join us!"

Zuko eyed the old man as if he were mad. "No! Uncle! The Avatar is on the island! I want the whole crew ready to ambush him! Stop this insanity NOW!"

Iroh chuckled. "Now, now, Prince Zuko! Forget about this Avatar and loosen up a bit! Have a drink!" he said, taking a glass and trying to pour him a drink.

"Uncle!" said Zuko indignantly. The beer that Iroh was trying to pour had missed the glass and was steadily flooding the table. The old man, however, took no notice of it. Zuko took the jug from his uncle as a congo line of men swaggered past. Zuko strongly considered interrupting their line and burning the Sungi Horn Lieutenant Jee was playing to a crisp, but he decided against it. Even if he did destroy their 'fun' , the men were too drunk to actually _do _anything. They would never be able to ambush the Avatar in their present condition.

Zuko growled angrily and trudged furiously to his room. Hopefully the men weren't too hung-over in the morning. He slammed the door to his room as he entered it and stood facing the wall. He stared at it blankly before beginning to bang his head on it.

_Bang. _

_Stupid Music Night._

_Bang. _

_The Avatar had better be there in the morning._

_Bang._

Why, why, _why? _Did the gods hate him so much? Why were they tormenting him like this? One perfect moment to capture the Avatar with all his men ready for him—was that so much to ask?

_Yup._

Not you _again!_

_You're not going to capture him! _

Shut up, he told the voice impatiently. It didn't listen to him.

_You know the reason that your father sent you on this mission was because it was supposed to be impossible._

Well now it is possible, he shot back at the voice.

_He's not going to accept you, you know that._

"SHUT UP!" he yelled. Flames erupted from his clenched fists as he yelled the words at no one in particular.

The voice disappeared almost instantly and Zuko shook his head. _I'm NOT going crazy, _he told himself. _I WILL capture the Avatar and I WILL regain my honor…_

* * *

Katara sat watching the fire. Once again, she was awake when she shouldn't have been. The troubles that had plagued her the previous night were long gone, now she was troubled by something else.

While they were horsing around in the water earlier that day, she had a lingering feeling that they were being watched. Just before they ended their 'game', she had seen pair of eyes watching them so intently, but they disappeared before she could figure out whether it was her imagination or if they had been there for real.

At first she thought it _was _her imagination, but now…she wasn't so sure.

"Katara?"

Katara jumped. Aang was awake.

"What are you doing up?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Can't sleep, I guess, what about you?"

"Can't sleep either," he replied.

Katara stifled a snort. She could see through that lie _so _very easily. "Nice try, Aang, why are you up?"

"I had a dream," he said, "nothing major,"

Once again, Katara stifled a snort. "You're a bad liar, you know that? You wanna tell me what happened in that dream that was 'nothing major'?"

Aang shook his head and sighed. "No, it's okay Katara, why don't you get some sleep?"

"Not until you tell me what happened in your dream, Aang," she replied stubbornly.

"Really Katara, I'm fine, trust me,"

Katara sighed. "If your dreams start troubling you again, you're going to tell me, got that?"

"Yes, _mom,_" said Aang with a heavy sigh.

Katara smirked. "Good," and with that she stood up and crawled into her sleeping bag. She closed her eyes in an attempt to fall asleep and just as she was about to nod off, she heard Aang say;

"You weren't up because you couldn't sleep either, were you? You'll have to tell me what's wrong if I catch you up again,"

Katara smirked to herself under the cover of her sleeping bag. Aang was smarter than she thought…

**Was I right in saying it was crap? Be honest guys...and if you want action and fluff, which this fic seems be lacking at the moment, wait for it...wait for it...it's coming...**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	5. Lento

**Hi Guys!**

**I have to make up for the crappy previous chapter, so I hope what happens in Zuko's dream makes up for it. Also, due to a slightly…_spiteful_ review I received for this story ( I won't say names, I'm not heartless), I'm gonna start explaining what the terms and the quotes have to do with the story—they'll be at the end of each chap.**

**Oh, and the action is coming. There's a little fluff in this chapter, hope that satisfies you, but the action stills seems to be lacking a little bit. It's coming, though, and don't hate me for what I do with it, 'kay?**

**This is dedicated to an anonymous reviewer, Peyton, who I'm slowly driving insane, soz about that, Peyton. I'm posting this early for you. And thanks to everyone else who gives _nice _reviews.**

**One more thing, let's pretend that Zuko still has Katara's necklace and that Aang has already mastered Earth, okay? This is story is set _after _Aang learns Earth, but I need Zuko to have her necklace, so bear with me, okay?**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Do I even need to say it?**

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**Lento**

**Lento-** Slowly

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"_The hand is quicker than the eye is,  
__But somewhat slower than the fly is."_  
Richard Armour (1906 - 1989) US poet

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Zuko did not sleep well that night—partially because the sounds from Music Night could still be heard from his room. He had tried _so _hard to block out the noise, but he had failed—miserably. So he gave up and just tried to fall asleep as best as he could, but that was the other reason he did not sleep well. 

In the daytime, he had other things on his mind, and so it was easy for him to ignore the voice telling him that it was futile trying to capture the Avatar, but at night, the situation was different. At night, the voice would pop in and out of his dreams telling him to give it up, but what really shook him was that part of him was telling him to _join _his enemy.

HA! Like he would ever do _that_! Prince Zuko would have to fall in love with that Waterbending wench before _that _everhappened—and it never was going to!

On top of that, he had _that_ dream again. That stupid, recurring nightmare about the duel with his father…but this time it was different. This time the Avatar was there. _This _time, he was facing his father with the Avatar and his companions at his side—_supporting _him. Cheering him on, being as loyal to him like no one but his Uncle had ever been.

Speaking of which, where was his Uncle? He was not beside him like the Avatar was. He was not in the crowd like he was in all the other dreams. In fact, he didn't seem to be around at all. That didn't seem like his Uncle. His Uncle was supposed to be beside him supporting him like so, not the Avatar.

Not only that, but he wasn't pleading for mercy like he was all the other times he'd had the dream. At least, he was, until the Avatar and his friends appeared beside him.

"_Get up, Zuko," _That was that idiot of a warrior.

"_You're not alone this time," _That was the Avatar.

But what the girl did was what got him back on his feet again (it also shocked beyond all reason).

She knelt down beside him and whispered lightly into his ear, _"Zuko, you have to win this time, and we're here to make sure you do."_

"_What if I don't?" _he asked her. _"What if I fail?"_

She smiled. _"You won't fail. You're not alone this time, Zuko, history will not repeat itself," _She kissed his cheek lightly. _"Get up, we're here to end this war, you can't back down now because of a memory,"_

Zuko felt himself nod, and he stood faced his father.

"_You're a failure, Zuko," _Ozai said. His father sent a flaming punch at him. Zuko tried to dodge it but it was too fast and it burned his shoulder. He screamed in agony and collapsed, yet again…

Zuko woke with a start. He sat up and felt his brow. It was sopping wet with sweat.

"What a dream…" he mumbled to himself. He looked at his shoulder and touched it tentatively. That dream was so real…and it disturbed him greatly. The Avatar supporting him, his Uncle Iroh absent from what seemed like an extremely important event to him, his father…and that Waterbending wench.

_What did you say you would do before joining the Avatar? _Asked a voice sleepily.

Zuko scowled and silenced it. "It was just a dream," he told himself. "There's no way of that actually happening, it was just a dream…"

He noted dimly that it was quiet. There were no more drunken songs, no more loud music, no more soldiers stumbling loudly past his room. Music Night must be over.

Zuko sighed and lay back down but didn't go back to sleep. Sleep meant a possible repeat of that dream (though he had to admit, it was nice to know that he wasn't alone in that dream…_it was also nice to have the girl kneeling next to him, comforting him…_Zuko was shocked at his thoughts, they were going wild! He could barely control them anymore!) and a possible repeat of the same recurring nightmares he'd had for two years. It also meant his thoughts would run even wilder than they were at that moment.

He turned and stared at the Fire Nation banner hanging on the wall next to his bed, but it reminded him of a lot of things he wanted to forget. His banishment, his sister, his father…come to think of it, there really wasn't much waiting for him back 'home'. He didn't even know if he would even call it 'home'. The _ship_ seemed more like home compared to the Fire Nation.

The more he thought about it, the more he realised that his mission was actually pointless. If he brought back the Avatar, he didn't even know if his father _would_ accept him back into the Fire Nation. If he didn't, he would be in exile forever unless the Avatar defeated his father and sister. If he sided with the Avatar, he would be turning his back on his country.

_Imagine that, _he thought irrationally, _the Prince of the Fire Nation betraying his own country._

There was really nothing he could do. He was too immersed in his thoughts to realise that he was vaguely considering joining his enemy. There was nothing wrong in dong so. Yes, he _would _be turning his back on his country, but what good was it to stay loyal to the Nation that began the war he wanted to end?

Suddenly realising what he was thinking, Zuko shook his head to clear his thoughts.

…

…

…

Now what? Zuko groaned. He couldn't think because his thoughts would run wild and drive him insane, and he couldn't sleep because his dreams would disturb him—and then drive him insane.

After what seemed like hours of staring at the ceiling, Zuko drifted off into another fitful sleep.

* * *

"Appa, buddy! What's wrong?" 

_I slept in _again! Thought Katara irritably. Raising her head a bit, she caught sight of Aang bustling around Appa with great concern. By the looks of things, the giant bison was sick.

"Aang? What's wrong?" she asked sleepily.

"Katara!" he yelled. "Can you have a look at Appa? He looks sick!"

Katara nodded wearily and crawled out of her sleeping bag to where Aang was standing. She looked at Appa, who did indeed look sick.

"Is there any chance you could heal him?" asked Aang.

She shook her head grimly. "Aang, I can only heal open wounds, I can't do sicknesses like this, but I think he maybe just ate something that upset his stomach, he should be fine in a few days,"

Aang nodded. "It's okay, buddy, you'll be fine," he said, turning back to the bison and stroking his fur.

"Hey Aang, what's wrong with Appa?" asked a sleepy voice.

Sokka had just woken up.

_Oh, so I _didn't _sleep in_, thought Katara. "Sokka, Appa's sick, we're going to have to stay here a few more days, okay?"

"That depends," said Sokka, "how many days is a few?"

Katara shrugged. "Three days maybe?"

Sokka scowled. "Katara, Aang, you do realise that we're running out of time, right? Aang still has to master Fire!"

"We know, Sokka, but how do we get around if our only source of travel is sick?" asked Katara.

The boy sighed. "Fine, but we really should get going as soon as Appa gets better, got it?"

Katara nodded. "Right, I'll just go and see if there's a plant or something Appa can eat to make him feel better,"

With that, Katara strode briskly into the woods.

**How was that? Was it better than the last chap? Don't hate me for making Appa sick, I needed a reason for the gang to stay on the island a little longer. **

**Oh, yes, the music term and the quote—Lento, meaning slowly, is the name of this chap 'coz Zuko is slowly realising that he should join the Avatar, and the quote (really should have been on top of Vivace, but hey, it's on this one,) the hand and the eye represent Zuko, and the fly is Aang, as said Vivace.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	6. Andante

**Hi guys!**

**Thanks for all your reviews, keep 'em coming. Right, some of you might recognise this chapter from the older version of this. But I've changed it a bit…come to think of it, I've changed this a lot…**

**Moving on, sorry about the wait. This was a tough one to write. I've also decided that I might dedicate each chapter to certain people. This one's for Arashikage-san, Lionessmon, and those who have told me to ignore mean reviews.**

**Also to Cry About It, who's review has taught me to point and laugh at all flames. They can be very funny sometimes, you know?**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Zuko's turn.**

**Zuko: She doesn't own us and never will.**

* * *

**Andante**

**Andante**- (lit. walking) at a moderate pace

* * *

"_The walking of Man is falling forwards."_  
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) US philosopher

* * *

Zuko woke up slightly later than usual that day. There was a single thought in his mind that he could not stop pondering about. The question was, was it the wiser thing to do? Would it work? He'd had enough of the thoughts that had been plaguing him over the past few days. It was time to shut them up. He just hoped that the one small deed he was planning to do would be enough to do the trick.

He walked over to a small table in one corner of his room and opened the drawer. He rummaged through it for a few minutes (it was fairly untidy, taking into account that this was _Prince Zuko's _drawer, of all people,) and at last, he found what he was looking for—

The Waterbender's necklace.

He studied the cool, blue stone whilst running his finger over the soft ribbon, savouring the feel of the silk between his fingers. He sighed and placed it gently back onto the table so he could change into his regular clothing and armour.

He was not going to just sit around and let the Avatar escape him yet _again_. No, this time, the Avatar was NOT going to get away. When and if he carried out his new plan, it would work. It would get him back his honour, his throne, and his country. The Avatar was his ticket to the Fire Nation, and he was not going to get away.

_Not this time…_

Once changed, Zuko turned to exit his room. He opened the door and was just about to leave when he realised he'd forgotten something. Walking back to the small table, he picked up the forgotten item, studied it once more, and pocketed it. He walked out of his room and shut the door quietly noting how quiet it was on the ship.

Here was one reason he never joined in at Music Night—hangovers the next morning. He made his way to the Captains Coop, checking to see if anyone was awake on the way. If no one was, he would leave a note for his Uncle telling him where he was. Fortunately, some one was awake…sort of…

Sitting at a table in the Captains Coop drinking tea, was Uncle Iroh himself—except he didn't seem to be very aware of what was going on around him. The retiree sat at the table wearing a pained expression and massaging his forehead. He did not seem to notice his nephew as he entered the room—or as the said nephew tried to get his attention.

"Uncle?" said Zuko.

The old man ignored him.

"Uncle!" snapped Zuko impatiently waving a hand in front of Iroh's face.

Still nothing.

Zuko growled in irritation. This was infuriating. "Uncle!" he barked.

The old man jumped. "Prince Zuko!" he said sleepily. "What's going on?"

Zuko sighed. "Uncle, I need to ask you something," he said quietly (quietly? Zuko was usually barking commands at his crew, being _this _quiet wasn't really…_right_)

"Ask away, nephew," mumbled Iroh.

"Uncle—" Zuko paused, not really knowing whether to ask him the question or not. After a moment or two, he shook his head, deciding against one of the decisions his brain had made earlier. Now wasn't really the best time. "Never mind…"

Iroh grunted. Zuko had the feeling that his Uncle had not really been paying attention—most probably because he was suffering the same thing as everyone else who had participated in Music Night; a very bad hangover.

The Prince stared at his Uncle and shook his head in exasperation. "I'm going out," he said, suddenly in his usual demeanour.

Iroh grunted again. Zuko took this as a "you do that, make sure you're back before sunset alright?"

The teenager gave his Uncle a rather disgusted glance before he turned and left the retiree alone in the Captains Coop.

Zuko walked through the halls of the ship ignoring the low, drunken moans of his crew that told him that everyone was waking. Though he thought he should have been yelling orders and such at everyone in the crew that had slept in, he did not. By the sounds of it. their headaches were bad enough, and the teenaged Prince decided to take pity on them and just let them get over their pain in peace.

* * *

Zuko arrived on the beach of the island somewhat quicker than the last time. What he hoped was that the Avatar was still camped on the Eastern Bay. If they weren't, then gods help him, he would go insane.

Striding through the forest as fast as he could towards what he thought was the Avatar's camp, he did not realise that he had taken a few wrong turns, and instead of coming out on the Eastern Bay, he arrived at a lake in the middle of a large clearing.

_This isn't right_, he thought to himself, but as he was about to turn back, he heard a distant splash.

* * *

Katara walked through the forest looking for something…anything really, that could make Appa feel better. The young monk looked so worried when she had told him she couldn't heal the bison, but she also needed a little time alone—away from all her responsibilities for a while.

After what seemed like hours, (Katara didn't know, she'd lost track of time somewhat quickly) she approached a small lake. The bank sloped gently into the clear water which reflected the trees and mountains in the distance. The scene looked so _perfect_, as if someone had painted it.

Katara sighed at the view.

_I guess a break wouldn't hurt, _she thought. Slipping off her shoes, she sat down on the bank dipped her feet into the water. She hadn't really noticed how sore they were until that moment. She let her eyes wander around the scenery for a while before sighing again and deciding she was bored.

She bent a small stream of water and played with it for a while, freezing and unfreezing it into various shapes.

_Snap._

Katara froze. That sounded like someone stepping on stepping on a twig.

_Relax, _she thought to herself. _It's probably just Aang or Sokka coming to look for me._

She was sorely mistaken. Emerging from the forest not too far away from her, was—

"_Zuko,_"

At first, Zuko didn't seem to notice her, but out of her initial shock, the stream of water she was bending dropped and splashed loudly into the lake.

_Damn! _She thought as Zuko looked towards the sound of the splash. She cursed herself as Zuko's golden stare turned towards her.

The two teenagers stared at each other for a moment before Katara reached to her side with the intention of opening her waterskin—but it wasn't there.

_Dammit! _She thought. _I must have left it back at camp!_

Doing the first thing that came to her mind, Katara picked up her shoes and ran barefooted into the forest. She didn't hear Zuko trying to call her back and it was only after ten minutes of flat out running did she realise what she was doing.

_Stupid girl! _She cursed herself. _You were right there near a good source of water, and you run_ away_ from it! What's more, you're leading him straight to the Avatar! What's wrong with you, girl!_

Katara gasped at her mistake and again, out of her shock, she stopped. Her feet were sore, there was an agonizing pain in her left ankle, she could barely breathe, and she had stitch in her side making her feel like some one had just wedged a knife in her ribs—but she began running in a different direction despite her discomfort.

Finally, she stopped.Gasping for breath, she leant over clutching her side trying to regain some strength and at the same time trying to hear whether Zuko was still following her or not. She heard nothing. The silence around her was broken only by her heavy breaths and by the rustle of leaves in the wind. Looking up, she saw that the Fire Prince was nowhere to be seen, giving her the idea that she had lost him.

Katara took adeep breath and sat down leaning against a nearby tree. She inspected her raw feet and winced.

_Ouch._

There was a nasty gash around her ankle. It looked deep.

_So that's what that pain was,_ she thought, biting her lip as she continued to inspect it. Out of habit, she reached to her side again to open her waterskin, but then remembered that she had left it back at camp.

Katara sighed in frustration and closed her eyes tightly. The pain in her ankle was excruciating and she had no water to heal herself with. She massaged the bridge of her nose as if it was helpful.

"You shouldn't run in bare feet. I thought you were smarter than that,"

Katara's eyes snapped open and gasped when she saw who was standing over her. She tried to back away but found that the tree she was leaning on was solid and would not let her simply fall through it as she wished it would.

"W-what do you want Zuko?" she spat.

"Nothing," he replied. "I just wanted to return something to you,"

Katara snorted. "Sure, and I'm your best friend," she said dryly. "You know I won't tell you where the Avatar is. What do you want?"

"I want nothing—and who said I was going to ask?" said Zuko. "That looks painful, let me help you,"

Katara blinked. "Did you just offer _me_ help?"

"What's wrong with helping a girl in need?" said Zuko.

Katara stared at him as though he'd gone insane. "Who are you and what've you done with the real Zuko? Wait—why do I care? This is probably just ploy to get me to tell you where Aang is! Well, too bad buddy! It's NOT going to work!"

"Are you done?" he asked impatiently.

"What do you mean, 'am I done?'" she asked viciously.

"I mean, are you done ranting? Becausewhat I said was true, I don't want anything. I just want to return something to you,"

"Stop playing with me Zuko! _What do you want?_" Though she was getting slightly nervous, Katara wasn't showing it.

Zuko sighed. He took a canteen from his waist and tossed it to her.

"There," he said. "You have something to attack me with if I try anything, now will you listen?"

The girl stared at him. "What's wrong with you today? Are you drunk or something?" She looked from him to the canteen suspiciously before opening it and bending the water inside it. She bent it into the liquid blue glove that surrounded her hand and placed it on her injured ankle, sighing at the refreshing feel of clean water on her raw skin. There was a cool blue glow and the gash on her ankle healed and slowly disappeared.

All the time, Zuko watched her, almost curiously. He had to admit, she was very pretty and she moved so gracefully. _Stop it, Zuko, she's the enemy!_

"What?" she snapped when she caught his glance.

Snapping back into reality, Zuko shook his head.

Katara stood up and eyed him sceptically, keeping the canteen open just in case he _did _try anything.

Zuko stalked forward and stepped behind her (he was surprised she didn't run, she had healed herself and could run any time now, but she didn't. Katara herself was surprised at her actions) tying something soft and familiar around her neck. He whispered into her ear, "I believe this belongs to you,"

Feeling rather taken aback, Katara felt the cool blue stone of her mother's necklace at the base of her neck and gasped. "What's the catch?" she asked, turning around to face him and backing away.

"No catch," said Zuko. "It's of no use to me anymore, and it _is _yours," He turned to leave.

"Z-Zuko, wait!" she called out to him. Zuko stopped and turned around. "Thank you…I-I guess you…maybe, really aren't that bad…"

"You're welcome," he said. "We're still enemies though, when you get back to your brother and the Avatar, and when I get back to my ship, none of this ever happened, alright?"

Katara nodded. "I know," she said quietly.

With that, he left.

Katara stood stock still, stunned at what had just happened. She pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. It hurt. A lot. Definitely not dreaming (she strongly considered asking Aang what planet she was on when she got back). She had never imagined that Zuko would ever do _anything_ like returning her necklace. His Uncle maybe (the man had seemed nice enough), but definitely not Zuko. She smiled softly and headed back to camp.

Aang was still sitting by Appa and Sokka, typically, was eating when she got back.

"Katara!" said Sokka through a mouthful of food. "It's about time you got back!"

Katara looked at her brother in disgust.

He gave a huge gulp and said, "Is that mom's necklace?", spotting the stone at Katara's throat.

She nodded, another smile finding it's way to her lips.

"Great! You found it! So, where've you been?"

Katara smiled again. "Walking…"

**Right, that's done. Wow…I actually wrote a chapter more than five pages long…oh well, better get used to it. What do you think? Is Zuko planning something or not? If you've read the shorter version of this, you'll notice that I've changed it A LOT. Hope you don't mind.**

**Oh, the chapter name and the quote—doesn't it kind of speak for itself? No? Well, if it doesn't, it's because Katara and Zuko have both gone on walks. Sorry if this was crap, and if Zuko's OOC (which he is, I swear) it gets better from here, promise. Soon, you will see what my twisted mind has planned for this fic.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	7. Pianissimo

**Hi Guys!**

**Well here's your next chapter! Can you believe it? I got passed the cursed Chapter Six! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, notice that my other stories have not gone past the sixth chapter). Any who, this chapter was a real toughie to write. **

**I, being here in New Zealand, am going back to school next week, so after this chapter, I may not be able to update as often as I used to. (Fons: Be scared, Jelly, very scared—you're in high school now!****  
Me: Shut up!)**

**So, this one's to all my good friends! Tv-chick-jess, Flufflybunny, and Sweetstories11, and to anyone I may have missed.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Katara, if you please.**

**Katara: She doesn't own us. She just plays Fate in this story.**

**Me: I know, and I enjoy myself.**

* * *

**Pianissimo**

**Pianissimo (_pp_)**- Very soft

* * *

"_One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter_,"  
James Earl Jones (1931 - ) US actor

* * *

The sun was fairly low in the sky as Katara knelt on the sand mixing the contents of small pot, but she did not seem to be focusing too much on what she was doing. She had burnt herself twice and almost set her dress on fire. Her mind was just…not working.

When the girl accidentally knocked over the pot so that the stew and everything else in it spilt out over the sand, she snapped.

"Argh! What is wrong me!" she asked herself furiously, throwing down the ladle and running her fingers through her hair. She sat down on a nearby rock and closed her eyes massaging her temples in irritation.

She was so…confused. She could not think, she could not focus—she felt as if she couldn't do anything right. What happened in the forest earlier that day had confused her beyond all reason.

Prince Zuko, the Fire Prince, the man trying to capture her best friend, had returned the one thing she owned that had meant so much to her. And what's more, the man had offered her _help_. And even stranger than that, she felt…_odd_ around him. Something was wrong with the world. Something was, oh, so very wrong.

Katara buried her head in her hands and sighed in frustration.

"Katara?"

The waterbender jumped.

"Aang!" she said, startled.

"Is there anything wrong? You look upset," said the monk.

She shook her head. "No! Nothing's wrong!" she said almost a little too quickly. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to Aang, she just didn't want him worrying about her well being when he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

_Great excuse, Katara, nobody could see through that lie, _she thought sarcastically.

Katara grimaced at her thoughts. Truth was, she didn't want to tell Aang anything. What was going on in her mind was her business and it was going to stay that way.

"I just…I can't…" she began uncertainly. Unable to think of a way to get the monk off her back, she said the first thing that came to her head. "I need rest…" she finished lamely.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" he asked. "You look really flustered,"

"Really Aang, nothing's wrong," she reassured him unconvincingly. "I'm just…uh…a little tired…"

The monk eyed her suspiciously. Katara bit her lip, feeling rather guilty for lying to her best friend, but she didn't want him prying into her business. She hoped that he would believe her. Unfortunately for her, she had been travelling with Aang for too long.

"Okay, seriously Katara, what's wrong?"

_Idiot, _she thought to herself. _You don't want to tell him anything, not even that Zuko knows you're on the island? What is the matter with you, girl?_

Zuko doesn't know where we're camped! She countered.

_What if he does? Then what!_

He returned my necklace! He offered me _help_! And he didn't follow me!

_Have you officially gone _insane_? The guy is your enemy, damn it! You honestly think that just because he returned your mother's necklace he's going to stop hunting you down for a day? The guy's probably planning something right now! He was returning your necklace because he probably hoped that you'd lead him to the Avatar! He wants to gain your trust because you might be able to lead him to his prey, you idiot!_

He didn't follow me though…oh no…

Katara gasped at what she had just realised. Zuko _knew_ where they were. Zuko _knew_ that they were on the island. Zuko _knew_ where to find her.

Her hand drifted to her mouth in shock. The amber eyes she had seen while they were playing in the water—they were _Zuko's_!

"Earth to Katara?" said Aang, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Aang, we have to leave," she said quickly.

"What? Why?" he asked, taken aback at how quickly the girl turned from defensive to extremely worried. "We can't, Appa's sick, remember?"

"Aang, we have to go!" she said.

"Katara!" said Aang, now eyeing the girl with great concern. "Why do we have to go? Did something happen while you were in the forest?...Wait a second…" His eyes lingered to her necklace. "Katara, where did you find your necklace?"

"Zuko's here Aang!" she said in response. "Zuko knows _we're_ here! We have to get off this island!"

Worry began to show in the Avatar's eyes. "He had your necklace, didn't he?" he said quietly.

Katara didn't answer. She simply stared at her feet and began to twiddle her thumbs.

"What are we going to do? Appa's sick! We can't go anywhere!" said Aang.

Katara bit her lip again. Why hadn't she told Aang and Sokka earlier? Why didn't she tell Sokka what she had seen after they were playing in the water? Why had she been making the stupidest decisions?

"This is all my fault, Aang," she said quietly.

"Nothing is your fault," said Aang firmly. "We can't go anywhere, right? We'll just have to hope that Zuko doesn't decide to show up before Appa recovers, but if he does…" he trailed off.

Katara nodded. She knew what he was going to say. If Zuko did show up at their campsite, they would have to fight to escape—she just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

Katara spent the rest of the day extremely quiet and on edge. She felt as if Zuko would suddenly jump out of nowhere and attack them—but he didn't. In fact, for the next two days, it seemed as though Zuko didn't even exist.

Katara had revisited the lake she had found and explored the forest several times and there was no sign of Zuko. She relaxed a little, but she still felt bad for not telling Aang and her brother about what really happened back in the forest when Zuko had returned her necklace, and so she spent the next two days not talking unless she had to.

Though she was unusually quiet, Aang and Sokka did not seem to notice. It really kind of sucked for her. She wanted to tell them why she was so confused, why she could barely focus…okay, maybe not. She wanted to talk to someone—anyone other than Sokka or Aang, but since they were the only ones around, she couldn't really. She just…needed to be with some different company for a while.

She spent most of her free time practising her bending since there wasn't much else to do. Occasionally she wandered off into the forest to look for something to do, but didn't find much.

So, her problems were: she needed to talk to _some one_ that wasn't Aang or Sokka, she half expected Zuko to attack them at any moment, and she was _dead _bored. She hated her life at the moment.

* * *

Iroh watched his nephew spar with one of the crew members, absently correcting him of any firebending techniques he accidentally messed up—and there were more mess-ups than usual.

He watched as Zuko kicked a stream of flames towards the soldier, who easily dodged them and countered with a series of flaming punches.

_That wasn't right, _thought the retiree, slightly startled by his nephew's mistake. _He always gets that one right…why not this time?_

"Prince Zuko, I think that is enough training for today," he said, nodding at the soldier letting him know he could leave. The soldier nodded and left, leaving the retired general alone with his nephew.

Zuko knew what was coming.

"Prince Zuko, is there something on your mind? You seem distracted,"

Zuko shook his head. "No, nothing's wrong Uncle," he said firmly.

Iroh eyed the prince suspiciously. He'd been quiet over the past few days, almost too quiet, and Iroh knew him too well too believe him when he said 'nothing was wrong,'

"Have some tea, Prince Zuko,"

"I don't want any tea," said Zuko.

"Now Prince Zuko, I _know _something is wrong, you messed up one of your most well done firebending techniques and you have been unnaturally quiet, tell me what's on your mind," said the sage.

Zuko scowled. "Uncle, that's probably the fifth time you've asked me that this week! And my answer to that is the same as it was when you last asked me, _nothing is wrong_!"

Iroh shook his head. "Prince Zuko, tell me what is bothering you, please,"

Zuko sighed. "Will you leave me alone if I tell you?"

"Yes," said Iroh exasperatedly.

Zuko briefly considered telling him the whole truth, but he decided against it. His Uncle Iroh probably would never shut up if he told him _everything,_ from the negative thoughts plaguing his mind to that stupid dream with the Waterbending wench, so he decided with the first part and the first part only.

"I've been thinking a lot, that's _all,_"

"And _what _have you been thinking about?" asked the old man.

"Just…stuff…" replied Zuko lamely.

"And what _sort _of stuff?"

Zuko growled. "Uncle, stop prying into my business!"

Iroh shrugged. "I just want to help you,"

"There's nothing to help me with!" snapped Zuko. He turned to leave.

But Iroh was a persistent man. As though he could read Zuko's mind, he said, "Have you been having thoughts about your banishment?"

Zuko stopped but did not turn around. Though he did not say anything, Iroh knew the answer.

Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Have a seat Prince Zuko, we need to have a heart to heart,"

"Can't this wait until after—"

"Prince Zuko," said Iroh sternly.

Zuko sighed and sat down beside his Uncle.

"Tell me what has been bothering you,"

Zuko sighed again. "It's like I said, I've just been thinking…"

Iroh waited for Zuko to continue. After a moment or two, he did.

"I've just…I don't know, Uncle," began Zuko wearily. "I've been thinking…what Zhao said a while ago came back to haunt me... 'if your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar, but in his eyes, you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation'…and lately, my mind's gone crazy…I couldn't help but wonder whether what he said was true or not…"

"So _that's _why you've been so quiet," said Iroh, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

Zuko nodded and reluctantly added, "a few nights ago I had a dream—" he decided to leave out the part where the girl kissed him "—and I had to face my father again, but this time, the Avatar was helping me…and you were not there…"

Iroh frowned.

"My thoughts were even worse after that…for crying out loud, I even considered joining—" he stopped, shocked that he even said the word 'considered'.

Iroh didn't say anything for a while. Finally, he said, "Do what you think is best, Prince Zuko, only you can decide on what lies ahead for you, and remember, I will always be there—every step of the way," He patted Zuko's shoulder supportively and left the teenager alone in the training room.

**Okay, I'm done. Wow...Angsty much? This is just me, but I don't like this chapter as much as I do the others…but that's just me. The title and quote—pianissimo, meaning very soft, can mean very quiet, as in, like softly, like whispers, you know? Thequote speaks for itself.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	8. A Tempo

**Hi Guys!**

**Okay, this'll probably be my last update before I go back to school, but if I'm lucky, I might be able to get the next chapter up by Waitangi Day (national holiday for NZ, school's out for one extra day).**

**There's a bit of Katang in this, but I was forced to do it by my sister. I had to prove that I was capable of writing more than just Zutara—don't worry, it's just a bit, I won't do it again.**

**This one is for everyone who's review make me happy—Orangeybrisket1993, Zukoscute2, Badgrl74, and colorcrystals.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Aang's turn.**

**Aang: Are you going to make all of us do these?**

**Me: Yeah, get on with it!**

**Aang: Jellyjay does not own anything but the plot of this fic.**

* * *

**A Tempo**

**A Tempo**: Resume normal speed

* * *

"_Everything isn't meant to be okay."  
_American Idiot, Green Day

* * *

Zuko sat in the training room pondering on what his Uncle had said. It was true—whichever path he went down next would have to be the path he chose, but would his Uncle stay by his side, like he said, no matter what?

Memories instantly came rushing back to him.

"_If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?"_

"_If your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar, but in his eyes, you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation…"_

"_You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher…"_

"_You're the Blue Spirit. An enemy of the Fire Nation. You freed the Avatar…"_

And then that one quote from the dream; _"Get up, we're here to end this war,"_

Zuko clutched his head as the many memories came back to him so quickly. After a moment when the dizziness subsided, he stood up. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

Katara poked at her food inattentively as she sat with Aang and Sokka who were arguing about…something—she wasn't listening well enough to know what it was. No, 'wasn't listening enough' was an overstatement—she wasn't listening at all. She was too busy wondering (_still_) what Zuko was planning—

"Katara?"

—because he definitely didn't give back the necklace for nothing—

"Hello? Anyone home?"

Katara snapped back into reality. Aang was waving a hand in front of her face and Sokka was watching her suspiciously. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"I was only asking you to help prove Momo's innocence—he didn't steal anything did he?" said Aang.

Katara blinked. "Um…no?"

"Told you so," he said, rounding on Sokka. "Momo did not steal your fish,"

Katara couldn't help but laugh. "Sokka, I don't think Momo even eats fish, he eats fruit,"

Sokka shook his head and changed the subject. "Are you okay? You seem distracted?"

"Is this question directed at me?" asked the waterbender blankly.

Sokka stared. His sister wasn't this dumb. She was _never _this dumb. "Tell me now what you're thinking of and I won't bug you again,"

"I'm not thinking of anything," said untruthfully. Noticing the looks that Aang and her brother were giving her, she immediately went defensive. "What?"

"You know that Aang was trying to get your attention for a full ten minutes before you answered him, right?" said Sokka matter-of-factly.

"Um…" Oh great, now what was she supposed to say? If she said 'yes', that would mean she was ignoring Aang on purpose, which she wasn't. If she said 'no', it would mean having to tell Sokka what she was thinking of, which she didn't want to do. She could lie? No, that wouldn't work, she was a bad liar.

"You're doing it again," said a voice.

"Huh?" Realising what she had just said, Katara slapped her forehead. "Um…I need to go…uh…do something…somewhere…" she got up to leave but Sokka dragged her arm back.

"Hold it!" he said. "You're going to tell me what's on your mind,"

"Sokka, why do you care?" she said. Her tone was slightly colder than what she had intended. Oh well, she'd have to live with it.

Sokka folded his arms. "Guess the answer to that," He sat her back down. "Spill,"

Katara bit her lip and looked uneasily from her brother to the young Avatar and back again.

Aang, noticing how uneasy she felt, realised that maybe it was better if she talked to her brother alone. "I'm gonna go check on Appa," he said.

"No, Aang, you don't have to go," began Katara.

Aang shook his head. "No Katara, this is between you and your brother," The girl opened her mouth to say something, but he stopped her. "It's okay Katara, I don't mind," and with that he bounded off.

Sokka watched the monk go and turned to Katara when it seemed like he was out of earshot. "Right, spill, I'm your brother and I have the right to know,"

"Sokka, it's nothing, don't worry," she said.

Sokka sighed. "Aang told me you'd been up late, how come?"

"Nothing, really Sokka, I'm fine,"

Sokka scrutinized his sister. "Nice try, Katara, but you're a bad liar, _spill_,"

"I've just been having a few bad days, that's all," said Katara with a weary sigh. "Just been having a few doubts, other than that, I'm good," After a moment of silence, she added, "Can I go now?"

Sokka raised an eye-brow. "No, I'm not done, what happened while you were in the forest?"

"Plenty of stuff," said Katara. "I walked, found a small lake, found my necklace, and I walked, why?"

"Because you lost your necklace while we were at that coal place where the Fire Nation was keeping Haru and the other Earthbenders, it just strikes me as odd that you found it _here, _of all places," replied Sokka.

"Sure…anything else?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know that Aang likes you, right?" he said. His expression was unreadable. Whether Sokka found it funny or not, she couldn't tell.

Katara blushed slightly.

"He cares, Katara, and so do I, if there's something bugging you, you have to tell one of us, okay?"

The girl sighed heavily. "Alright, I get it, can I go now?"

Sokka nodded and watched his baby sister walk over to Aang.

_She has her own free will now Sokka, you can decide on everything for her, whether she's hiding something or not…_

* * *

Aang watched the two siblings talk from where he was standing next to Appa, stroking the bison's fur absent-mindedly.

It sucked being out of the conversation. He liked Katara and he wanted help her if she was feeling down in the dumps, but sometimes, it was better to discuss things between family members.

Appa groaned.

"Appa!" he said, slightly startled by the bison. "You're okay!" He smiled widely as the bison shook his shaggy head.

"Whoa, buddy," he said as the bison tried to get up. "You need to rest for a little while longer, okay?" He stroked Appa's fur lightly.

"Appa!" said a voice behind him.

Katara and Sokka had finished talking. "Are you guys done?" asked Aang.

Katara nodded. "Feeling slightly more like myself now," she said. She seemed somewhat perkier than usual.

Aang eyed the girl suspiciously as she bustled around Appa checking to see if the bison was okay. "I'll be right back," said Aang to both Appa and Katara.

He stepped over to Sokka. "What did you _do_?" he asked. "She's acting perky…too perky,"

Sokka shrugged. "Mood swings?" he said suggestively. "Probably a girl thing," He shrugged again and helped himself to more stew.

* * *

Katara acted relatively normal after that. In fact, she was much more lively than she had been in the past few days. The boys found it slightly weird but they weren't complaining. She was better on sugar high than quiet and on edge. And besides, now that Appa was better, it meant they could leave the island and carry on trying to find Aang a firebending master by the afternoon the next day.

The trio had a late night that night. They spent hours after sun down sitting around the campfire laughing Katara's sudden randomness. Part of that time was spent debating on random subjects.

"But wouldn't the penguin like the fish? It _is _the predator," said Sokka.

"Yeah, but the fish would then hate the penguin," said Aang.

"But wouldn't the fish be dead? How could it hate the penguin if it was dead?" said Katara. This statement got a laugh out of the boys.

"That's _after_ it gets eaten though," said Aang, trying to stifle more laughter. "It hates the penguin _before _it gets eaten,"

"How do we know the fish even knows about the penguin before it gets eaten? Fish are pretty dumb," said Sokka.

The trio roared with laughter. Their debate on whether fish and penguins hated each other was extremely enjoyable. They hadn't laughed this much in a while and it was quite refreshing to be able laugh it all up. Katara made a mental note to start more of these conversations, especially if anyone was acting too quiet.

Finally deciding that they had had enough fun for one night, the three went to sleep. It felt like everything was back to normal—that they were just camping out in the Earth Kingdom rather than being on the run from the Fire Nation. It felt good to relax, and for the first time in a week, Katara was able to sleep easily.

The next morning, however, all the perkiness she had the previous night was vaporised instantly.

Aang and Sokka were not in there sleeping bags, so she figured that they had gone to get last minute supplies. Katara wriggled out of her sleeping bag and was just about to go into the forest to wash up when she noticed to figures approaching them from the other side of the beach.

At first she thought it was Aang and Sokka, so she stopped and began to walk towards them—when she noticed they were wearing _red._ Squinting slightly so that she could see them easier, she gasped and backed away.

One of the red clad figures approaching her was—

"_Zuko,_"…

**Oooh, Zuko has finally shown up at the Avatar's camp! I'm sorry if I make you guys wait too long before I update but I this time I have an excuse—I'll probably be busy with school work. The title and quote (I'm sorry if anyone was offended by the song name, but hey, if you're mad, take it out on Greenday, not me), the title as in, back to normal, as in Katara's back to normal, and the quote once again speaks for itself.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	9. Ritenuto

**Hi Guys!**

**Hooray for extra internet time! I'm going to try and update again on Waitangi Day, but no promises, 'kay?**

**So, thank you so much for all your kind reviews—keep them coming, I thrive when I get lots of reviews. Okay, after this chapter, I'm going to take the quality of each chapter up a notch, if you know what I mean, so don't hate me if it takes even longer than I intend it to. But I promise, this'll be the last of the slow paced ones.**

**This is for all those who are not at all offended by Greenday—DemonDaughter, Rai Medvedsky, Storybender, and Badgrl74 in particular.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Sokka?**

**Sokka: If she owned us, I'd be a very upset person.**

**Me: Why do you hate my guts?

* * *

**

**Ritenuto**

**Ritenuto**- Hold back (slower at once)

* * *

"_So give me this chance,  
__to make the wrongs right,  
__to say…"_  
Promise, Simple Plan

* * *

"Uncle, do you think what I'm doing is right?" asked Zuko quietly as he and his Uncle approached the Avatar's camp.

Iroh looked at the boy. He was like a son to him—in fact, Zuko should have been _his _son, not his brother's. The poor boy had gone through so much and now, he had probably made the most influential decision of his life. Everything that would happen next hung on what happened within the next few hours.

"Prince Zuko," he started, "You are helping your Nation in more ways than you could ever know—if you still have doubts on what you are doing, stop and think for a while, because you are the only one who can tell yourself what is and what is not right,"

Zuko stared at his Uncle, thoroughly confused. After a moment or two when he finally decided that his brain could not translate whatever it was the sage had just said, he asked, completely perplexed, "What?"

Iroh could not help but chuckle at his nephew's confusion. "You will understand one day, nephew, in the meantime, concentrate on what you plan to do,"

Zuko shook his head in bewilderment and looked ahead at the Avatar's camp. From what he could see, there was only one blue-clad figure on the beach, and from the distinct brown braid, he could tell it was the Waterbendeing we—girl. The bison was asleep on the sand and there were a few packs that lay on the sand.

They must have been getting ready to leave. Zuko considered it lucky that he and his Uncle had arrived before they _did_ leave. The other boy and the Avatar were not there, probably getting last minute supplies.

_Good, _thought Zuko, _that'll make things easier._

The girl looked like she was just about to go into the forest when she stopped short seeming to have noticed them. She walked forward a little and then backed away in shock, realising who was approaching her camp.

* * *

"_Zuko…_"

Katara froze. She couldn't say she was completely surprised. She had been half expecting Zuko to jump out and attack them for two days, after all, but now that she felt considerably relaxed about it, she was rather shocked.

She reached to her side to open her water skin.

_Dammit! Not again!_

Starting to panic, she looked frantically around the campsite for her water skin. There it was, lying on the sand next to her sleeping bag on the other side of the now extinguished campfire.

"It's too early for this!" she muttered angrily to herself. She hurried to over it and scowled in frustration as she picked it up—it was unusually light.

"Not now!" she hissed furiously. "Not now! Please, not now! Please don't be empty!"

Katara fumbled with the opening and swore under her breath. Predictably, it was empty—she made a mental note to _never_ put off filling her water skin again.

_Now_ _what_? She thought to herself furiously. She could run? No, Zuko would most probably catch up to her, or she could accidentally lead him to Aang, and she would be running from a good source of water—again. She could fill the water skin with sea water? No, her water skin was for fresh water, and fresh water only. She could hide? What kind of suggestion was that! She could fight? No, she wouldn't stand a chance.

_I am so dead. _

There was no other option, she would have to fight. Not like she would win, no, she just had to keep him busy until Aang and Sokka got back—Aang would be able to beat him. He had to!

Katara bit her lip and braced herself. Of course, she had gotten _much_ better from the last time she faced him, but then again, Zuko had probably gotten much better too—he was an extremely powerful bender as it was.

Something rang in her memory. Wasn't she supposed to marry a powerful bender?

_Oi! Katara! Now is NOT the time!_ _Snap out of it! And he is your enemy for the gods' sake!_

Katara shook her head. Where the hell did _that _come from? Wait, no, it didn't happen. No, she never though of it. Nope, no way. She didn't even want to think she even _thought _it. Nu-uh, never happened.

Katara scurried to the water's edge and summoned the strongest the water whip she could hold and held it ready to defend herself with.

As Zuko came closer, she noticed that it was his Uncle with him, other than that, he was completely alone.

"What do you want, Zuko?" she spat. "Aang's not here!"

Zuko smirked. "We're not here for the Avatar," he said coolly. "Funny, how you should jump to conclusions,"

Katara glared daggers at him. If _only _looks could kill.

"I don't want to fight you, Katara, so please don't make me,"

The Waterbender blinked. So did Zuko's Uncle.

"You didn't tell me you knew her name," said the old man to his nephew, just loudly enough for Katara to hear.

Katara shook her head. "What do you want Zuko?" she repeated, "I doubt very much that you have something else to return!"

He sighed and stepped forward and as a reflex, Katara sent the water whip hurtling towards him. He dodged it easily and continued to stalk forwards.

As he continued towards her, she backed away.

"Katara, please, let me explain why I'm here," he said.

Katara ignored him and summoned another water whip.

Zuko sighed wearily. She was determined girl, he had to give her that, and whether or not she was intimidated by his appearance, he couldn't tell—he hoped she wasn't intimidated by him anyway.

She sent another water whip at him, which he blocked and evaporated with a wall of flames.

"Katara, stop!" Zuko grasped her wrists, disabling her from bending. "Please! I don't want to fight you!"

Katara scoffed. "Sure, I totally bought that," she said sarcastically. "Let go of me," she hissed.

"You'll try and drown me if I do,"

"Let go,"

"Prince Zuko, let go of young miss…?"

"Katara, Uncle, I thought you heard me say that," said Zuko absently, looking Katara straight in the eye. He could see a bit of fear (_typically_), a LOT of resentfulness (_yep_, _that's not too surprising_) and a bit of something else which he could not quite place.

"Yes, I know, but I believe the young lady is quite capable of saying her name herself," said the old man. "Let go of her, please,"

Zuko sighed and released her wrists.

"Please excuse my nephew's behaviour, Miss. Katara," said the old man gently. "I am General Iroh, Dragon of the West, it's nice to meet you," He held out a plump hand and Katara, after a moments hesitation, shook it timidly.

"Now, if you'd please listen to what my nephew has to say, I'm sure we're all going to get along fine,"

Katara scrutinized the old man as if he were slightly insane, but he seemed so _nice_. However she nodded, reluctantly.

"Good! If only we had some tea…"

Both teenagers stared at the retiree and uncharacteristically exchanged looks of bewilderment.

"Okay…" Zuko turned to Katara and motioned her to sit down on a nearby log.

She shook her head. "I'd rather stand," she said coldly. "You sit,"

Zuko bit his lip to stop himself from snarling. Now wasn't the time to lash out at the girl, if he did, she'd probably try to drown him again.

"What do you want?" she said again, this time even colder than before.

"Same as last time, nothing," said Zuko simply. "I just want you to let me explain,"

"There's nothing to explain, Zuko," said Katara. "What are you going to do, ask me for permission before you use me as bait?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "What gave you that idea?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" snapped the girl, anger and resentfulness beginning to boil through again. The prince _had _to be playing dumb on purpose. This was just so…unlikely.

"What do you mean 'what's that supposed to mean'?" said Zuko. "It means what it sounds like it means,"

Katara stared at Fire Prince incredulously and then turned to Iroh. "Did you drug his tea or something? He's acting strangely—he's not interrogating me or anything…"

Iroh chuckled. "No, he's come to a decision," he said.

"A decision?" asked Katara sarcastically. "Okay, you know what, jokes over, go back to your ship and do whatever it is you do there because you are _not _going to get your hands on the Avatar through me,"

"I don't plan on going back," said Zuko quietly.

**Does this seem a little rushed? If it does, I apologise for it, but I have a reason (Fons: it's not a very good one.  
Me: Am I going to be able to get in one author's note without being interrupted?  
Fons: Actually—  
****Me: Forget it.)**

**Anyway, I'm running out of chapter titles for this story—my book only has so many musical terms, and there's loads of stuff coming anyway. Title and quote—Zuko did not fight Katara, therefore, he was holding back…sort of, and the quote, I don't need to explain.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	10. Decisio

**Hi Guys!**

**I'm going to spoil you guys, I have to spend the last few days of the holidays doing as much as I can on this fic—meaning daily updates! Thank you for all your kind reviews, most of them made me a VERY happy girl.**

**This is for my good friend Tv-chick-Jess, who, like me, is obsessed with the following bands—Goodnight Nurse, Greenday, Simple Plan and 48 May! **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Iroh!**

**Iroh: Jellyjay does not own us. Tea?**

**Me: Don't mind if I do.  
****

* * *

Decisio**

**Decisio**- decisively

* * *

"_Run away, run away, run away, run with me,"  
_All For You, Goodnight Nurse

* * *

Katara blinked in confusion. "What?"

Zuko sighed. "Let me explain, no tricks," he added seeing the look of apprehension on Katara's face. "Firebender's honour," he said.

The girl searched the firebender's face as if looking for _anything,_ anything at all, that would give his plan away, but he seemed perfectly honest—he had even sworn on his honour and according to Aang, most decent firebenders would _never _break their word. They took honour _very _seriously.

As if reading her mind, Zuko added, "It's just me and my Uncle, no one else is here,"

Katara scrutinized him. "Fine," she said shortly. "I swear, Zuko if this is some new plan to capture Aang, it's not going to work,"

Zuko rolled his eyes (_What the—? _Thought Katara—Zuko never seemed like a guy who would act so…_childish_,) and muttered, "I've noticed, you've already tried drowning me,"

The waterbender glared at him and muttered to herself as an addition to what Zuko had just said, "and the next time I try, I will,"

The prince heard her and scowled. "Can I explain now? Or do you have something else to say?"

It was Katara's turn to scowl, but the nevertheless, she nodded shortly.

Zuko sighed. "Sure you don't want to sit down? It's kind of a long story…"

"I'm fine," snapped the girl impatiently, "Get on with it,"

Zuko snarled. The water peasant was being so _rude_! And he was a Prince! How dare this _peasant _disrespect him!

_Calm down, Zuko, calm down…_

Zuko took a deep breath and went straight to the point—"Let me join you,"

Katara scoffed, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Yeah, I swear, you just said that you wanted to join us," she shook her head in disbelief and folded her arms in front of her. "Just goes to show what too many days in the sun will do to you…"

"Katara, I'm serious!" said Zuko through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, I buy that," said Katara, now laughing slightly because of the ridiculousness of the situation. "Yup, that sounds completely plausible, I totally buy it," she said sarcastically. "What are you going to do? Let us use your ship to travel to the Fire Nation and then turn us into your father? I don't think so,"

Zuko massaged his forehead in irritation. This was infuriating.

_What do you expect? You've been chasing her and her friends around the world for the past few months, she's not just going to stroll up to you and give you a kiss to say everything's all fine and dandy,_ said Zuko's common sense.

_Wish she did though…_

"Katara, Listen. To. Me." He said, grasping her wrists again and pulling her forward so that her face was inches away from his. "I'm here, in all honesty, asking _you, _a _waterbender_, of all people, to let me join you to help defeat my father,"

Katara opened her mouth snap back at him but he continued—

"If you don't believe me, then at least believe my Uncle in saying that we are _not _against you anymore,"

"It's true," said the old man, who was sitting by a now roaring fire drinking…was that tea? Gods, the old man was obsessed…

"My nephew is telling you the truth, young Katara, we wish to join you in your quest to help defeat my brother. We have had enough of this war, and we wish for it to end just as much as you do,"

Katara looked from Zuko and Iroh hesitantly and then back again trying to swallow the fact. Finally she said, "let go of me,"

"Do you promise not to drown me if I do?" said Zuko.

Katara raised an eyebrow. "You're sure you're not drugged?"

"Yes!" said Zuko exasperatedly.

"Let go," she said again. "I won't drown you," she added at the look of hesitation on Zuko's face.

Zuko released her and she began rubbing her wrists—Zuko had a _strong _grip. After a moments silence, Katara spoke up.

"Tell me again why you're here?" she said, still slightly perplexed by the appearance of her best friend's pursuer at their camp and _not _trying to use her to get to Aang.

"I—we want to join you," said Zuko again.

"We who?" she asked narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously.

"Me originally, but my Uncle being so loyal, has decided he's going to come along for the ride,"

"Who else knows you're here?" she asked him. She registered dimly how strange it was that _she _was interrogating the Fire Prince. Something seemed very wrong with the world.

"It's just us, no one else knows where we are," said Zuko. "I'm not lying here!" he added as though he could read Katara's mind. "I swore on my honour, remember?"

Katara glared at him for a moment or two, and then softened her expression slightly. "What's your crew going to think?"

Zuko slapped his forehead. "Dammit! Didn't think of that!"

Katara stared at him as though he had gone insane. "You're sure you're not drugged?" said again.

"For the love of the—Yes! I'm sure that I am NOT drugged!" snapped Zuko.

Katara gave him a long, hard stare.

Zuko returned it.

Finally, she said, "yup, still lashes out, definitely not drugged, just making sure,"

Zuko rolled his eyes again.

"So what _is _your crew going to think?" she asked him.

Zuko shrugged. "No clue," he said, then muttered to himself in undertone, "I can't _believe _I didn't think of that,"

Iroh turned away from the fire to face the them and said, "nothing to worry about, Prince Zuko, I will go back and explain to them,"

"How is that going to work?" asked Zuko. "One of the reasons you decided to come along for the ride was to help teach the Avatar firebending,"

"You'd do that?" chimed Katara, not sure if she had heard correctly. "You'd teach Aang firebending?"

Zuko nodded. "That's if we can join you, my Uncle and I were planning to teach him firebending—he's mastered the other three elements now, hasn't he?"

While Katara pondered on this, Iroh answered his nephew. "It's simple nephew, I will go back and tell the crew of your plan—I'm sure they will be loyal to you, if they are not, well, that will make things easier! But they will be loyal to you, I'm sure of it. You can stay with the Avatar and his friends, keeping an eye on him when firebends, I will go back to the ship and maintain order there, but we will follow you and I will come and visit every now and then to help teach the Avatar,"

Zuko thought on this for a while. It seemed like a good idea, but was there a down side to this?

…

…

…

…Not really, no. He nodded and turned to Katara.

"Will you let us join you?" he asked.

"Wait, I'm not done yet," she said. "So, you'll teach Aang firebending?"

Zuko nodded again.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch," he said. "And besides, why would I want to teach the Avatar something that will help him if I'm trying to capture him?"

Katara looked into his eyes trying to catch him out and said, "I wouldn't know why you would do that, you're the mastermind, not me!"

Zuko shook his head at the girl's paranoia. "Are you done _now_?"

"No!" she snapped. "What made you come to this decision in the first place?"

Zuko looked away from her and answered her quietly. "I'm not too sure…all I know is that chasing the Avatar and handing over to my father isn't the right thing anymore. I want this war to end, if I hand him over, it probably never will…and I probably have more of a chance of returning 'home' if I don't…"

Katara felt a small amount of pity well up for the Fire Prince. "Why?" she asked. "Can't you return without him?"

Zuko did not answer. He wanted to, really he did—it would probably get her to believe him faster, but he didn't want to remember, it was too painful.

Katara took his silence as a 'no, don't pry into my business'. She could tell he hated the memory too much to tell her what really happened—and was that a _tear_?

Not really realising what she was doing, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me, but something really horrible must have happened if you can't return home…"

She paused, not knowing what to say next. Then she felt them forming on her tongue, words she didn't want to say seeing as she had no idea what happened in Zuko's past anyway, but her mouth had other plans.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "for whatever it was that happened in your past…" she trailed off uncertainly.

"I don't need your pity," said the boy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I don't deserve it anyway, not after all I've put you and your friends through when all you were trying to do was save the world ,"

"You really aren't lying are you?" said Katara.

"That's what I've been trying to prove since I came here!" said Zuko exasperatedly.

Katara smiled at him, (_she has a beautiful smile, _thought Zuko irrationally,). "What do you expect? You can't trust most people these days!" She sighed. "Listen, just because you've sworn on your honour, doesn't necessarily mean you're not lying—"

"—but I'm not! I thought I just proved that to you!" interrupted Zuko.

"Let me finish," said Katara holding up a finger. "For all I know, you could be planning something—"

"—I'm not planning anything!" interrupted Zuko again.

"I _know _that, Zuko, at least, I _think _I know, but everything isn't all fine and dandy—not yet, we have one small problem,"

"What would that be?" asked Zuko.

"ZUKO! GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

Zuko turned and saw the water tribe warrior running towards him, boomerang raised and ready to attack.

"That'll be it," she said shortly.

**Well, there you go. Now tell me, does _this _one seem rushed? I'll apologise now, just in case you think it does—I'm sorry. 'Kay, moving on, title and quote, don't need to explain the title, and the quote, I'm pretty sure you guys are smart people, you'll figure it out. **

**I dunno whether they've been to America or not, but just in case they haven't, Goodnight Nurse, the band I took the quote from, is a Kiwi band, and they could possibly be the best Kiwi band in existence. Keep a look out for them if they ever go America.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	11. Sforzando

**Hello again Guys!**

**Glad you like the previous chapter! I'm so very happy that you guys liked it! Right well, there's one more coming tomorrow and then you'll have to wait, 'kay?**

**This is for all those reviews that made me laugh—isabelnecesssary218, Zukoscute2, Elfluver13, Storybender and Vicki So!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Who haven't I asked yet? I know, Momo!**

**Momo: stares at me**

**Me: Oh don't look at me like that! Augh! Fine! I'll say it! I do not own anything Avatar related.**

* * *

**Sforzando**

**Sforzando**: forced

* * *

"_And while we're waiting, we could try, saving the world,  
Or are we storing that for a rainy day?"  
_Saving the World, Brooke Fraser

* * *

Sokka and Aang walked back to camp after gathering last minute supplies in fairly good spirits. The previous night had really cheered them up—they had temporarily forgotten about the Fire Nation and the war. It felt good to forget, but as they knew, good feelings never lasted too long in this world. 

The contented expression on Sokka's face vanished almost instantly as they approached the Eastern Bay. He dropped the supplies that he was carrying in shock and stared at the image before him. His sister was talking to the Fire Prince whilst the old man that was the said Prince's Uncle sat next to the fire drinking tea.

The Fire Nation Prince was talking to his sister. His sister was talking to the Fire Nation Prince—in a _civil _manner. No bending. No struggling. No fighting. They were having a _civilised _conversation.

He watched as his baby sister placed a (dare he say it?) _comforting_ hand on the Prince's shoulder and…did she just _smile _at him? There was no other explanation for it—the Prince had brainwashed his sister.

"ZUKO! GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" he roared taking out his boomerang and charging towards him.

"Sokka wait!" he heard Aang call, but he ignored him and continued towards the Prince.

Zuko turned and saw him coming. He groaned and in one swift movement dodged Sokka, took hold of the arm with the boomerang and held it back in grotesque angle.

"Don't make me fight you, peasant, I don't want to," he said.

"Zuko, let go of him," said Katara walking up behind him.

Zuko released the boy without another word. Sokka stared at him for a second—his _sister _had just told the _Prince _to do something, and the _Prince _did as he was told. What the—?

He raised his arm again to attack him but Katara held him back. "Katara, what the hell—?"

"Zuko's not after Aang anymore," she interrupted.

Sokka blinked. "HA! Good one Katara," he said, laughing slightly. "Okay, jokes over, what the hell is going on?"

"I just told you," said Katara.

"No, seriously, what's happening?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "Zuko's. Not. After. Aang." She said as if she was explaining something to a two year old.

There was an awkward pause. "That's not funny anymore Katara," said Sokka finally.

Katara buried her face in her hands in irritation and muttered into her hands, "Why do I even admit I'm related to you?"

"Katara, what's going on?" asked Aang looking extremely confused. "Why's Zuko here? Why's he not chasing after me?"

"What part of 'he's not after you anymore' do you two NOT understand?" snapped Katara. This was infuriating.

After another awkward pause, Sokka spoke up. "Can we talk to you for a second?" he said to Katara. Without waiting for an answer, he and Aang took her by the arms and dragged her away from the two firebenders.

Once they were out of earshot, Sokka rounded on his sister. "What the hell is wrong with you? He's the enemy!"

"He's not anymore, Sokka," said Katara calmly. She explained to them the reason Zuko had appeared at their camp.

"And you believe him?" said Sokka incredulously when she finished.

"He swore on his honour Sokka!" she hissed. "Firebender's don't break their word when it comes to honour,"

"She's right, Sokka," chimed Aang.

"That's _decent_ Firebenders! Zuko doesn't count! He's been on our tail ever since we found Aang! You don't honestly think he's stopped chasing him, do you?" snapped Sokka.

"Sokka, he's not all bad!" said Katara.

"How do you know that?" he hissed.

"Because he saved me from Zhao once," said Aang.

There was a pause.

"Why didn't we know about that?" asked Katara blankly.

Aang shrugged. "Slipped my mind?" he answered suggestively.

"Okay, so he saved Aang's life once," snapped Sokka. "Give me two other reasons to believe him,"

"He returned my necklace, Sokka," said Katara quietly.

"Okay, one more—wait…why did I not know about that?"

Katara bit her lip nervously. When her brain had decided that there was no way she could get out of this situation she answered dejectedly.

"Because…" she began, not knowing what to say next. "Because we had a spoken agreement not tell anyone what happened,"

"And you didn't tell us? He could've been planning an ambush!"

"Which leads to the third reason," said Katara. "He didn't. I trust him, Sokka, give him a chance? Please? He said he would teach Aang firebending!"

"He would do that?" piped Aang.

Katara nodded.

"That doesn't matter!" snapped Sokka without thinking. "I don't trust him!"

"The fact that you don't trust him is more important than the fact that he's going to teach Aang firebending?" asked Katara raising an eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant!" snapped Sokka hastily.

"Then what's wrong with letting him join us?"

"He could be planning something!"

"Which he's not," countered Katara. "He's proved that already,"

"Oh?"

"He arrived while you two were out, he could have easily used me as bait," said Katara, "but he didn't, did he?"

"Well—no, but that doesn't mean he's not planning anything!" spluttered Sokka.

"And another thing, why would he teach Aang something useful like firebending if he wanted to capture him?" said Katara. She was winning this battle, she knew it.

"Katara, he's brainwashed you!" said Sokka unable to come up with anymore arguments. Katara had won, and he knew it just as well as she did it.

"No he hasn't Sokka," said Katara impatiently, but smiling triumphantly. "What do you say Aang?" turning to the monk. "You're the Avatar, should we let him stay?"

Aang thought for a while. "You trust him, Katara?"

The waterbender nodded.

"Then I do too, he stays,"

* * *

Zuko watched the threesome argue, most probably about whether to let him and his Uncle join them. 

"Uncle, do you think they'll let us stay?" he asked his Uncle.

Iroh sipped some more tea before answering. "That really depends, Prince Zuko," he started. "It depends on who the Avatar sides with—the girl, Katara, she trusts you correct?"

"I _think_ so," said Zuko, "at least I hope so,"

"Then we have a chance of joining them," said Iroh.

He watched as the three came to an agreement, and as the girl gave the Avatar a warm hug and oddly enough, he wished that it was _him, _she was hugging, not that annoying twelve year old kid…

The water tribe boy—Sokka, that was his name—trudged to a tree and leant on it sulkily, and he realised—Katara had won. He was now officially on the Avatar's side.

* * *

Iroh returned to the ship without Zuko to tell the crew what the plan was. He hoped more than anything that they would stay loyal to his nephew, after all they'd been through under Zuko's leadership. 

"General Iroh, sir," said Lieutenant Jee, saluting as Iroh approached. "Where's the Prince,"

"Gather the crew," said Iroh. "I will tell everyone then,"

Ten minutes later, Iroh stood on the deck in front of Zuko's small crew explaining to them about Zuko's decision.

After a shocked silence, Lieutenant Jee spoke up.

"No matter what the Prince decides, I will follow," he said, saluting the retiree.

The other soldiers followed suit. Iroh brightened.

"You realise that if you follow the Prince, you will be turning on your back on the Fire Nation," said the sage.

"We know, but after all we have been through with the Prince leading us, how could we not?" said one of the soldiers. "He is a great leader, and he will rule the Fire Nation wisely, we are honoured to be his soldiers,"

Iroh smiled warmly at them all. "Thank you," he said. "We will follow the Avatar, and when the time comes, we will fight beside him,"

* * *

"So…uhhh…….where are you going to sleep?" asked Katara timidly. 

She and the Prince were talking quietly by the fire as the sun began to set. Since Aang had already found a firebending master, they were taking it easy, and decided to stay on the island a little bit longer. They would leave in the morning.

Zuko shrugged. "Where ever I guess,"

There was a small silence—a surprisingly comfortable one considering that Katara was sitting with some one who was their enemy up until that morning.

Neither talked for neither had anything to say, so they just sat by the fire enjoying each others' company. After a while, Katara spoke up.

"What was it like in the Fire Nation?" she asked.

Zuko thought for a while. "Warm, that was for sure, but there were beautifully carved fountains where the water was just so cool and refreshing…it was…nice, I guess,"

"Nice is all you can say?" asked Katara.

"Only because I can't think of a better word," he said smiling.

He _smiled_. Something he had not done in two years. What was it about being in the presence of this girl that mad him so light-hearted?

"Did you like it there?" she asked.

Zuko shrugged. "I used to,"

Katara did not ask what he meant by that. She felt he might not want to talk about it.

"I have to ask," said Zuko after a while, "Why is that necklace so important to you?"

Katara did not answer right away. "It used to belong to my mother," she said finally. "She died in a Fire Nation raid, it's all I have left of her,"

"Oh…I'm sorry," he said.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," said Katara looking at him. "You didn't do anything,"

"No, but it was my country that did, for that, I'm sorry,"

The waterbender smiled warmly at him. It felt…strangely pleasant to be sitting each others' company and not throwing insults at each other—and to think they had hated each other until that morning.

The scene seemed so perfect until—

"Katara! Could you check and make sure Appa's good for tomorrow morning?"

Katara sighed heavily and went to check on Appa, and as she left, Sokka approached Zuko.

"Zuko, I'm warning you," he said darkly. "Don't try anything, my sister trusts you enough to defend you, but I swear, try _anything _at all to hurt her, I will kill you,"

"Why would I do that?" asked Zuko. "She's done nothing to me,"

"I know that, you may not be after Aang anymore but that doesn't mean you're not using her to get something else," said Sokka.

"What, you think I'm toying her? I wouldn't dare!" snapped Zuko.

"I don't know what you want Zuko," said Sokka, "but if it has anything to do with my sister, you can forget about it—Stay. Away. From. Her."

With that, he left.

Zuko stared after him, not surprised that he would threaten him as such—he was Katara's older brother after all.

He shook his head.

"What the hell gave him the idea that I wanted something from his sister?" he muttered to himself quietly.

**Ha ha ha...Sokka's being to overprotective, sighs big brothers...**

**Hope you liked it. I decided to put just a little bit of fluff in this one—just 'coz I could. Title and quote—Sforzando, forced, well, Sokka's kinda forcing himself to not attack Zuko every five seconds. Quote, that's Aang's job isn't it? Saving the world? (Brooke Fraser's also a Kiwi—Go the Kiwis!)**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	12. Allegro

**Hi Guys!**

**I have hit and sailed past the 100 review mark! Hooray! (does happy dance). Okay, this'll be the last update for a while, so enjoy it.**

**This is for Zukoscute2, my 100th reviewer and the person who suggested the idea of doing 'Allegro' when I was making the old version of this.**

**Enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: Zuko, you're turn again!**

**Zuko: You know that by writing this fic you're writing your own death sentence, right?**

**Me: Yeah, that's if you guys can catch me though, which you won't. **

Zuko: Sure…Jellyjay does not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

**

* * *

Allegro **

**Allegro**- slightly faster than Allegretto (Allegro- at a reasonably fast pace)

* * *

"_I know many techniques you can practice to give you self-control, but you cannot gain the discipline the riders had over night,"_  
Eragon, Christopher Paolini

* * *

Over the next few days, the newly formed 'quartet' as it was, continued to travel quickly . 

Katara couldn't quite understand why they had to leave each town so quickly—Zuko was going to teach Aang firebending, there really wasn't any point. Though Sokka said it was because they were on the run and had to make sure they weren't being spied on, she didn't quite believe him…maybe he was hoping to push Zuko off Appa while they were flying…

Sokka wasn't the only one who didn't trust Zuko though—Appa didn't either. When the bison awoke to see the Fire Prince sitting next to the fire with one of his master's best friends, the bison immediately began to act restlessly—this was the reason Aang had called on Katara to check on the bison that night. As Appa didn't speak English, Aang thought that he was sick again. It all became clear in the morning when Zuko approached the bison to help pack some more things onto his saddle.

Aang and Katara spent almost an hour trying to calm him down whilst Sokka offered no help at all. When they had finally managed to get Appa to trust Zuko enough to let him help them pack, Iroh paid them a visit.

He announced that the crew were going to stay loyal to Zuko, through and through and that they would not be too far behind. This worried Sokka slightly, but Iroh explained that they would be following them at a good distance—they would be at least fifteen miles behind and no member of Zuko's crew would be allowed within range of the Avatar.

Despite Iroh's reassurances, Sokka did not calm down. He didn't like the Prince, he didn't trust him, and he never would—after all, he was not only Katara's older brother, but he was like an older brother to Aang, and big brother rule number one was 'all men older than younger sister and not related to her, are scum'. Rule number two for Sokka was 'protect the Avatar and your younger sister from any one that fits the above description'.

"Young Sokka, we have sworn on our honour," Iroh had said when he noticed Sokka's uneasiness. "We have given you our word that we will not try and capture the Avatar, we firebenders do not break our word,"

"Besides, peasant," Zuko only referred to Katara by her name. Aang was 'Avatar' and Sokka was still 'peasant'. "I may not look it, but does my Uncle look like the kind of man that would go against his word?"

Sokka had no answer to this for Zuko had a point—the old man was practically crazy—he had an obsession with tea for crying out loud! He was too damn nice to ever go back on his word anyway.

So, Sokka continued to sulk. He didn't like Zuko, and Zuko didn't like him—in fact the only thing that was stopping them from killing each other was in fact, _not _the Avatar, but Katara. She would give Sokka death glares if ever he tried to kill Zuko, and would hold Zuko back if ever he tried to kill Sokka.

Aang however seemed completely happy with the fact that Zuko was on their side now. His lemur didn't seem to mind either—in fact, Momo was only ever seen around Zuko or Aang ever since he came. Aang also seemed to have made fast friends with his ex-enemy despite the fact that Zuko only ever referred to him as 'Avatar'.

He continued to badger Zuko about firebending, and for some strange reason, Zuko didn't seem to mind all his questions at all.

"Jeong-jeong told me that it comes from the breath, is it true?" he asked and so on and so forth.

Zuko answered most of his questions and had even begun to teach him some basic techniques. This sort of puzzled Aang as to why the Prince never lashed out him, but he wasn't complaining.

Katara seemed to be the only one who was acting like herself—not overactive like Aang was, and definitely not as sulky as Sokka was. However, she felt…_something_ around Zuko (unbeknownst to her, Zuko felt the same way,) and had made it a habit to avoid him when she could. Whatever these feelings were (she prayed to the gods that it wasn't what she thought it was—Sokka would lose it and most probably attack Zuko for no reason), she didn't want them. Other than that, she was completely normal.

Iroh visited them frequently to teach Aang new techniques and to check up on Zuko. He seemed to notice something between Zuko and Katara that no one else did, but he kept it to himself until he had more proof of what he thought he saw. When he got that proof, he would make sure that the two would admit it—even if it means annoying the heck out of them.

Of course, if what he was seeing was true, then he had to make sure that Katara's brother didn't ruin it—big brothers were so overprotective.

Zuko himself used to be overprotective of his younger sister—Zula, but that was before he was banished.

Apart from Sokka and Zuko's hatred for each other (which slowly dissolved into nothing more than rivalry), everything seemed run smoothly, both on the ship and with the Avatar, but as the small group knew, nothing ran smoothly for too long…

* * *

"Princess?" 

Princess Azula of the Fire Nation scowled irritation as a soldier knocked nervously on her door.

"What?" she snapped, not turning away from the four candles on the table in front of her. "I said no interruptions! What's so important that you have interrupt me from meditating?"

"I'm sorry, Princess," came the fearful voice, "but there is a message for you…from one of your brother's soldiers,"

It took a moment for Azula to register what she was hearing. A _message _from her one of her brother's _soldiers_?

"Enter," she said impatiently, standing up from her meditating position and approaching the door.

The soldier opened the door nervously and handed her the scroll.

"Leave," she snapped, looking at the scroll in her hand.

The soldier nodded feeling relieved that the Princess decided not to throw him off-board for interrupting her and shut the door quietly.

Azula stared at the scroll in her hand. Who on her brother's crew would send her message? Or more importantly, what was so important that the information went straight to her with no approval of her brother or her Uncle?

She opened it and blinked at what she was reading.

_Princess Azula,  
_

_As a citizen and a soldier of the Fire Nation, I feel it is my duty to tell you something of extreme importance. Your brother and your Uncle have betrayed the Fire Nation. They have joined the Avatar. The rest of the crew have as well. I am the only one that stays loyal to the Fire nation. I feel that it is in your best interest to inform the Fire Lord as I am not worthy enough to tell him my self._

Azula reread the letter twice before believing what she was reading. Her brother had betrayed the Fire Nation. _Her brother had betrayed the Fire Nation._ He had _finally _figured out that his mission was pointless.

She wondered vaguely whether he had figured out the other part to his banishment.

Azula smiled maliciously and she sat down a desk in the corner of her room and went straight to work on a reply.

She had a job for someone…

* * *

"Like this?" 

Aang jumped up, swivelled his foot around and kicked a stream of flames towards a tree in the distance. He missed it by an inch.

"Perfect," said Zuko, watching as Aang he learnt a new move. He was a fast learner, Zuko had to give him that. "Now focus on your target and see if you can hit it,"

Katara watched the two benders curiously from a rock next to the campfire, chin resting on the heel of her hand. The foursome was camped out in a small clearing in the forest so Appa could rest. Aang and Zuko took the opportunity to practise more firebending.

She realised that fire didn't destroy everything a while back, but she never really noticed the grace of the benders who bent it.

Aang tried the move again, and this time hit his target setting it on fire. The monk cheered and began to play with a small ball of fire to celebrate.

"Careful Aang," said Sokka lazily from Appa's saddle as Katara stood up to put out the burning tree. "Remember the last time you did that?"

"Oh yeah," said Aang sheepishly, extinguishing the ball of flames in his hands.

"Why? What happened?" asked Zuko. Curiosity was too strong for him now that he'd loosened up a bit.

Katara raised her hands and doused the flames with water from her water skin before answering.

"He burnt me once by accident," she answered almost carelessly as she sat back down on the rock. "I found out I could heal with my Waterbending after he did,"

"Oh," said Zuko. So she could heal burns? He wondered vaguely whether she could….

Nah.

"Right, let's try again," said Zuko.

Aang nodded but Katara interrupted them.

"No, that's enough practising for today," she said. "Otherwise you might set the whole forest on fire," She chuckled lightly as she said this.

"You'd be exhausted putting _that_ out, wouldn't you Katara?" said Sokka blandly absently playing with a twig. "One tree was enough,"

"Take that back!" snapped Katara.

"I dunno," said Zuko. "The only time I see you bend is when I fight you,"

Katara chuckled again. "Oh? Let's see what you can do then,"

"Is that a challenge?" said Zuko raising an eyebrow.

"Bring it on, Zuko!" she sang mockingly (she missed the death glare Sokka gave Zuko).

"You wouldn't stand a chance against me!" he countered.

"Wanna bet?"

"Hold it!" snapped Sokka. "You two are not sparring here,"

"Why not?" asked Katara. "I haven't been able to bend properly for a while! Besides, _Sparky_ here needs to learn a lesson,"

"Oh, so I am _Sparky _now am I?" said Zuko. "What are you?"

"I always thought I was the _Water wench_ to you," snapped Katara.

"That was before I joined you!"

"Oh really? So tell me Prince Zuko, what am I to you now that you _have _joined us," asked Katara—both teenagers appeared to have forgotten about Sokka and Aang.

Zuko opened his mouth to answer, but at first no sound came out.

So Zuko had developed a slight crush for the girl, so what? It meant nothing! So why couldn't he answer that one question?

Easy. He couldn't answer because he didn't know what to say.

"Definitely not nothing," he said quietly.

There was an awkward silence when Zuko said this. Aang coughed to break it.

"Ahem…so…uh…what's for dinner?"

Aang's question seemed to have brought the two back to reality and Katara answered him as if the previous conversation never happened.

"Soup, have one of the apples while you're waiting," she answered standing up and walking over to Appa to get the pot out so she could cook (she hid the blush that was creeping up to her face too).

Sokka watched his sister from Appa's saddle. Zuko had feelings for her, he knew that. He just hoped she wouldn't return them…

**Oooh…The plot thickens and the fluff grows…what is Zula planning? Which one of Zuko's soldiers betrayed him? Is Sokka ever going to accept the fact that the person writing this story is a Zutara fan and will probably never write Katang unless she's forced too?**

**Title and quote—Aang is a fast learner, like Allegro in a way. And Zuko was teaching Aang firebending (if you've read Eragon, then you'll know that Brom was teaching Eragon how to use magic in that chapter).**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	13. Cantibile

**Hi Guys!**

**Most of you guys are in high school already right? Tell me, how do you live? How do you get to classes on time? How do you find time to write?**

**Lol, any way, this is for all those girls (me included) with overprotective male figures—whether it be your brother, cousin, father, uncle, or grandfather, and even those without overprotective male figures, like Zukoscute2, SovereignxXxbrunette, and Vicki So!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Katara!**

**Katara: Zuko's right you know, you're writing your own death sentence.**

**Me: Okay, I get it, now hurry up and do the disclaimer.**

**Katara: Jellyjay owns nothing, not even the lullaby used in this chapter.**

**

* * *

Cantibile **

**Cantibile**-in a singing style.

* * *

"'_Fire and water' he said, 'don't really mix. You could say they're in compatible. But when they do love each other, they love passionately,'"_

Inkspell, Cornelia Funke

* * *

"Zuko! Get over here!" snapped Sokka. 

The Prince scowled but nevertheless, ambled over to the water tribe warrior. On normal circumstances, no peasant would get away with telling him what to do, but this was not at all a normal circumstance. He just got the Avatar and his friends' trust, he didn't want to lose it—though he resented the fact, he liked it here _much _more than the on the ship. No crew to order around, no Uncle bugging him with tea…

"What?" he asked irritably.

"You're hitting on my sister," stated Sokka.

"What? No! What gave you that idea?" said Zuko a little too quickly.

Sokka snorted. "You honestly think I'm _that_ stupid,"

Zuko scoffed.

"Hey, be glad I didn't attack you then,"

Zuko wanted _so _dearly to say "Not like you could," but he figured this wasn't the best time, so instead, he settled for, "What do you mean by _then_?"

"Oh please," said Sokka, snorting yet again. "How could you possibly think I missed that conversation between you and her earlier?"

"_She _started it, not me!"

Sokka raised an eyebrow. This was _Zuko_. Did he just say "_She started it_?" Was it even possible for the Fire Prince to act this way?

"You're acting really weird, you know that?" said the water tribe boy.

"How so?" asked Zuko irritably.

"You join us, you flirt with my sister and you put the blame on her for starting a flirtatious conversation," said Sokka monotonously. "I don't like it, what are you up to, Zuko?"

"Not this again," muttered the Prince under his breath. "How many times must I say the word '_nothing_'? I don't want _anything_, got it? And before you say it, the Avatar is of no more interest to me. If I wanted to capture him by joining you to gain your trust, I would have done it by now,"

Sokka scrutinized the Prince. "Listen, I get it, you don't want to capture Aang anymore but if you plan on getting something through Katara, for—"

"—forget it, I know," said Zuko impatiently. "I don't want anything from her,"

Sokka glared at him and Zuko rolled his eyes with irritation. Finally, Sokka spoke up.

"Stay away from her,"

Zuko scowled. "I. Get. It." With that, he left the water tribe boy eyeing him suspiciously.

Sokka watched sulkily as Katara handed the Prince a bowl of soup for dinner. He watched as Zuko thanked her and sat down opposite her and Aang and as Momo bounded around the three of them chasing a small moth around the flames. He smirked slightly to himself as the lemur jumped into Zuko's face making him fall backwards off his rock and he walked over to join the others in laughing at the disgruntled Prince.

* * *

After another night filled with random fun (even though Zuko was seldom seen laughing, it was one of the few times in which he enjoyed himself), the foursome went to bed for a goodnight's rest—every day was a long day during the war. Zuko, as usual, did not have an easy sleep. 

He continued to drift in and out of sleep, and finally, after five attempts, he gave up. He stood up and sat down again leaning against a tree in front of the fire wrapping his blanket around his shoulders. Zuko watched the flames uninterestedly, making it rise and fall with every breath.

Funny how just a regular campfire like this one reminded him of a lot of things he wanted to forget. He thought to himself; _why _did he agree to doing what his sister had requested? Why did she have to be so curious? Why did _he _have to be so curios? Why did they want to know what happened in the War Chamber and why did have to try and find out?

Zuko was too caught up in his thoughts to notice that Katara had woken up and was watching him from her sleeping bag.

"Zuko? What are you doing up? You're not still trying to catch Aang are you?" she asked sleepily.

Zuko couldn't help but smile. "No, if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here," he answered.

"Oh, okay," she said yawning widely. "What are you doing up then?"

Zuko shrugged. "I can't sleep, what are you doing up?"

It was Katara's turn to shrug. "Because I can?" she answered suggestively. She wriggled out of her sleeping bag and approached him wearily, rubbing her eyes as she went. She sat down next to him and Zuko draped the blanket over her shoulders. He blushed slightly as she leaned against him.

"Why can't you get to sleep?" she asked.

When Zuko did not answer, Katara sighed. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me," She yawned again and tried to get up but Zuko held her back.

"No, it's okay, I'll tell you if you still want to know," he said.

Katara turned to look at him. "Are you sure? You don't have—"

"I want to…it's just…hard for me…" he trailed off uncertainly. Sure it was hard for him to remember—he wanted to forget! But he felt that Katara had more than the right to know. She was, after all, the one who managed to convince the other two to let him join them, even after everything he put them through when all they were trying to do was save the world—for that he was more than just grateful.

Katara sat back and waited expectantly. Finally, Zuko began.

"It started two years ago…" he said. "Two years ago, I was banished from the Fire Nation and sent to capture the Avatar. Before I joined you, that's what I've been trying to do, and the reason I joined you was because I had doubts about it. What if I did capture the Avatar, would my father actually accept me back into the Fire Nation?—"

"Hold on," she interrupted. "It was your _father _who kicked you out of the Fire Nation? Why?"

Zuko looked away from her and stared into the flames again. "Because I shamed him. I spoke out against a General's orders to send a division of new recruits to Ba Sing Sei as bait. It was wrong. Then I refused to face my father in an Agni Kai, a fire duel, that's how I got my scar…"

Katara stared at him in horror. "Your father banished you just for saying what you thought was right? And he gave you that scar in the process?" she asked, shocked at what she had just heard. What kind of father would do such things?

Zuko nodded hesitantly and continued. "I had to do the impossible in order to get regain my honour, I had to capture the supposedly dead Avatar, and when he returned, I tried _everything _to capture him, but as you know, every time I tired , I failed.

"So I began to think, what if I did bring him back? If my mission was supposed to be impossible, then why did my father send me on it?

"That's the first part, why I joined you, the next part's why I'm awake—I'm always up, I can never sleep properly these days. I haven't slept well in two years," He heard a sniff as he finished.

"I'm sorry," Katara whispered. "I didn't know…you've had a horrible life so far,"

"Don't cry for me Katara, I don't need your pity and I don't deserve it. I don't deserve _you_," he said , facing her and wiping a tear away with his thumb. "One thing I have to ask though—what the hell possessed you to call me '_Sparky_' earlier?"

He smiled despite himself as she giggled through the last of her tears—there was one way to cheer the girl up.

She sniffed a final time and leaned back on him resting her head on his shoulder. She drew the blanket around them closer and answered, "I have _no _idea what made me say that, sorry…"

Zuko snorted and draped an arm around the Waterbender's shoulders—she didn't seem to mind. He certainly felt lighter than he had in months, as a matter of fact, Zuko couldn't remember the last time he felt _this _elated. Maybe his Uncle was right; it's never good to keep things bottled up.

After a moments comfortable silence, Zuko spoke up. "You know, you're brother would murder me on the spot if he found us like this,"

Katara laughed. "Just ignore him, he's an overprotective big brother, always has been,"

There was another pause, and finally, Katara broke it by humming a soft lullaby.

Zuko could not recognise the tune, and so he asked, "Are there words?"

"Hm?" asked Katara. "Oh, yeah, it was a lullaby my mother used to sing to me, I don't remember the words very well, so I replace the words I can't remember with words of my own,"

"Could you sing it?" asked Zuko.

"Huh? Sure I guess…" and she began;

"_Sleep little one, go to sleep,_

_So peaceful the birds in the trees,_

_Quiet the meadows and seas,_

_Even the buzz of the bees,_

_Shine from the moonbeam so bright,_

_Down to the window give light,_

_Sleep little one, go to sleep,_

_Sleep little one, go to sleep,_

_Goodnight, goodnight…"_

Zuko smiled as she finished. She had a beautiful voice and the lullaby had a beautiful tune. Moments later, he noticed that her breathing had become steady—Katara had finally fallen asleep on his shoulder. He rubbed her arm affectionately and slowly, Zuko too, fell asleep, and for the first time in two years, his slumber was a peaceful one.

* * *

The soldier stared at the letter in his hand. The Princess wanted him to spy on Zuko. What had he done? He had betrayed the crew that had been like his family. He had betrayed what would've been the future ruler of the Fire Nation if the Avatar ended the war. 

_What had he done?_

The lieutenant gazed at the sea pondering the situation. To spy on Zuko and the Avatar without being caught would need a lot of careful planning. But he couldn't do it anyway—he couldn't betray the crew and the man that had acted like his family in his home away from home.

But to not spy on the crew and the Prince would be betraying his nation, and if the Avatar failed to win the war, then his head would be on the chopping block.

But because he had already done what he had done, his head was on the chopping block anyway.

It was a lose-lose situation. Either face the wrath of the crew or face the wrath of the Princess.

_What have you done, Jee, What. Have. You. Done?_

**HA! I bet you didn't see THAT coming! It was Jee! Yeah I know, it doesn't really seem like his thing but what do we know about him? Not much. And before you say anything else, I know that I'm rushing Katara and Zuko's relationship slightly, but let's pretend that from the last chapter onwards, it takes place a fortnight after Zuko joins the gang—and let me tell you, a LOT can happen in a fortnight.**

**Title and quote—read them and then read the chapter, and _then_ tell me to explain to you. **

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	14. Agitato

**Hey Guys!**

**Hooray for the weekend! Otherwise I wouldn't have got this up. Btw, thanks for ALL your reviews! They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. squeals**

**So, this is basically for all those with reviews who have reassured me that high school is no biggie. Moonlightshadow-of-darkness, reader, and Maruken.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Aang, if you please?**

**Aang: You just turned a whole lot of people against Jee! Do you not care?**

**Me: You and the rest of the gang aren't happy, are you? In that case then, I'm sorry, will you do the disclaimer now please?**

**Aang: JJ doesn't own anything.**

**

* * *

Agitato **

**Agitato**- agitated

* * *

"_Who has to know  
__The way she feels inside (inside)?  
__The thoughts I can't deny (deny)?"  
_Dirty Little Secret, All American Rejects

* * *

It was early morning and Iroh couldn't help but smile at the two teenagers as he approached the Avatar's camp carrying with him a small bag of food. There was Zuko, leaning against a tree in front of the burnt out campfire with an arm wrapped protectively around the girl, Katara. Her head was resting on his shoulder and both teenagers were still asleep. The blanket that they were using had fallen off and was lying in a crumpled heap behind the two. 

So it was true, the Prince _had _developed a liking for the girl—and more than just the friendly type, and from the contented look on the sleeping girl's face, the feeling was mutual.

Iroh approached the sleeping couple with an amused smile on his face—forcing these two to admit their feelings would be fun, oh, very much fun indeed.

The retiree tried to shake his nephew awake, and for once, the said nephew acted like normal teenager—

"Go away, Uncle…" he mumbled.

"Tell me Prince Zuko, did you and Miss Katara have fun last light?"

Zuko's eyes shot wide open. He looked bemusedly from the old man to the sleeping girl on his shoulder as if trying to remember the reason she was there.

Then it clicked.

"Uncle!" he whispered as not to wake the girl. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Am I going to get great nephews and nieces?" asked the old man, chuckling at the shocked look on Zuko's face.

"What? No! We never…we didn't…Uncle, that's gross,"

Iroh chuckled again. This was more than amusing to say the least. The old man was very much enjoying himself.

"So what _did _happen last night?" the sage asked.

"Uncle, _nothing _happened!" snapped Zuko defensively, but he could not stop himself from turning red.

"Zuko? What's going on?" asked a sleepy voice beside him.

Katara was awake.

"Katara!" said the Prince sounding slightly stunned. "You're awake!"

"What's going on?" she repeated, stifling a yawn. Then she spotted Iroh. "Oh no…"

"Good morning, Katara," said Iroh grinning amusedly.

"General Iroh! Sir! This isn't what it looks like!" she said, turning red and immediately going on the defensive.

"Oh?" asked the General, "Tell me then, what _does _this look like?"

"I…that is to say we….we…."

Iroh grinned sadistically at the young couple's misfortune. This may not be fun for _them_, but it was, oh so enjoyable for _him_.

"Uncle, leave us alone, you've had your fun," snapped Zuko standing up and dusting his clothes as if to get rid of invisible soot.

"Leave you two alone? Does that mean I _will _be getting great nephews and nieces?"

"Gross!" snapped Katara. "No offence, General—"

"That's _Uncle_ Iroh, now, isn't it, Katara," said Iroh grinning mischievously.

Katara scowled and glared at the old man as Zuko helped her up. "Well, no offence _Uncle _Iroh, but you have a _dirty _mind,"

"None taken," chuckled the old man. Then he added in an undertone; "Don't worry, I won't tell your brother, Katara, he'd surely murder Zuko if he found out he'd _taken _you,"

At this, Katara turned beet red, and snapped. "We did NOT—" but Zuko covered her mouth before she could continue.

"Sh! You'll wake the other two! It's bad enough my Uncle's here to bug the hell out of us!" he hissed.

"Right, sorry," she whispered when Zuko released her though she continued to glare at Iroh.

Zuko then turned to his Uncle. "Uncle, stop it! Leave us alone! Nothing, I repeat, _nothing _happened last night, understand?" he snapped. "We were just…talking,"

"Talking about what?" asked Iroh.

"Nothing that concerns you," snapped Katara, crossing her arms in front of her and looking away. The old man had hit a nerve by saying that last comment. The Prince had _taken_ her…how ridiculous! She would never dishonour herself before marriage! The man was talking rubbish…

By the way the old man winced slightly when she snapped at him, Katara figured he'd got the point, little did she know, Iroh wasn't done. He was done for now, but he wasn't finished with the two just yet.

"I'm sorry, Katara," said the old man as 'honestly' as he could (though no matter how hard he tried, he could not hide the smile on his face) trying to calm the fuming girl. "Don't worry, I still won't tell your brother about whatever it was that happened last night,"

"You'd better not," muttered the girl angrily.

The old man chuckled once again. "Now, I think it's time for breakfast! I've brought some food from the ship,"

Katara eyed the bag doubtfully. "That's not poisoned is it?" she asked looking from Iroh to Zuko suspiciously.

"No! Of course not!" he said, then muttered in undertone "I wouldn't want the bearer of my nephew's son to be poisoned,"

"I heard that!" snapped the girl

"Heard what?" asked Iroh, twiddling his thumbs innocently.

Katara growled in irritation and stormed sulkily over to Aang and Sokka to wake them.

Zuko watched her go and then muttered to his Uncle; "You're never going to leave her alone, are you?"

"Not until you two admit it,"

"Admit what?"

Iroh couldn't help but laugh at his nephew's stupidity and he shook his head and lit another fire.

_This is going to be fun_…

* * *

Whilst Iroh taught Aang more Firebending techniques, Katara, Sokka and Zuko went for a stroll in the nearby village. Zuko had to don some old clothes as a disguise so that he was not labelled as 'Fire Nation Scum' by the villagers. 

"Are you sure it's okay to leave Aang alone with that old geezer?" asked Sokka, looking back at the old man distrustfully.

"'Course it is," said Katara, slightly stiffly. "Uncle Iroh's too old and too nice to betray any one,"

Sokka looked at his sister wearily. "Did you just call him 'Uncle' Iroh? Since when were you related to Zuko?"

Katara blushed slightly and thankfully, Zuko answered for her.

"Uncle just decided that he didn't like being called 'General' anymore," he said. "And your sister's right, he's too nice to ever betray anyone,"

Sokka eyed him suspiciously but he let it pass. After all, Iroh had visited several times already and every single time, nothing happened.

Upon arriving in the village, the three browsed uninterestedly through the market. Sokka didn't really care about anything that didn't involve food, so to shut him up, Zuko gave him a small amount of money so he could go and eat what he wanted without disgusting himself and Katara.

So the two teenagers wandered off without Sokka, pausing at stalls every now and then to have a look at the merchandise. Finally, lunchtime came, and the two benders met up with Sokka for food. Aang and Iroh showed up too, and the five had lunch in the village.

The day progressed smoothly until one of the merchants accidentally knocked off Zuko's hat.

As Zuko was a wanted man, and everyone in the village knew his face, this was not a good thing.

"Aren't you…" began the merchant as he scrutinized Zuko's face.

"Uh-oh…" whispered Aang.

"Run, now," said Katara quietly to the two Firebenders.

_Too_ _late_.

"FIRE NATION SCUM! GUARDS! HURRY! THERE'S FIRE NATION SCUM IN THE VILLAGE!"

Without thinking, the five ran. The guards raced after them. Normally, Zuko and Iroh would have fought their way out of the din, but this was different. There were too many people in the village market who were innocent and neither one of the two firebenders were dishonourable enough to harm the innocent. Not only that, but they were on the good side now, they weren't going to stand and fight just so they could be labelled as 'Enemies and Evil'—'Fire Nation Scum' was bad enough.

As the five rounded a corner, Katara bumped into someone and fell backwards just as the guards rounded the corner. Zuko doubled back and helped her up before they ran out of the village and into the woods.

Once they had lost the guards, the five stopped to rest at a small clearing not far from their camp in the forest.

"That was close," said Aang, breathing heavily.

"No kidding," said Katara.

"Does it suck being Fire Nation?" asked Sokka without thinking.

Zuko glared at the water tribe warrior, but Katara stopped him from attacking him.

"Sokka, do you have to be so thoughtless?" snapped Katara.

"Sheesh, sor-ry!" retorted the boy. "Katara, I need to talk to you,"

Without waiting for an answer, he dragged her away from the group, and once they were out of earshot, he rounded on her.

"Tell me honestly, Katara, do you have feelings for Zuko?"

Katara stared at her brother. "Did Iroh put you up to this?

"What the—answer the question!"

"No," she answered.

"Don't lie to me, Katara, please," said Sokka. "You defend him, you flirt with him, you have so much _trust _in him, do you like him?"

"Sokka, this subject just came out of the blue," said Katara briskly. "Who put you up to this?"

"Myself, now _please _tell me the truth, do you or do you not like him?"

"No," said Katara firmly, though she avoided her brother's eyes. He didn't let her off easy.

"Katara—"

"No, Sokka, I don't, what part of that don't you understand?"

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Look at me and say it,"

Katara looked her brother in the eye and said it as though she was explaining to a four year old.

"_No,_"

She felt _so _bad for lying to her brother like this, but he would kill Zuko. Sokka was too overprotective to know that she had feelings for the Fire Prince, and so, he couldn't know—not yet, at least.

Sokka tried to read her face, but this time was one of the few times he couldn't. "Alright, I trust you Katara,"

Katara gave a mental sigh of relief when her brother said this. Thank the gods he was satisfied with her answer, but then a thought struck her, one that thoroughly confused and scared her;

_What about Aang?_

**Yes, what about Aang? Hmmm…what goes on in my twisted mind? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Iroh wasn't the only one who enjoyed this one—I did too, probably because I love torturing Zuko and Katara. What's horrible to them is hilarious to me.**

**Also, sorry Storybender, but Sokka hasn't ruined their moment just yet, I assure you he will, but not yet.**

**Title and quote—Iroh's annoying Zuko and Katara, that gives you Agitato, and the quote I don't need to explain.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	15. Espressivo

**Hi guys!**

**Sorry about the wait, but we got set loads of homework (our homework is weird, we had to write an ode to a Bunsen burner!) and I got such a small amount of time to write—believe me when I say small, I had to sit out of my P.E lessons all this week and I still only get ten minutes to write per day.**

**Any way, here's your next chapter and it's for Sukia Fire, who reviewed at least 5 times in a row. Thanks Sukia! Your reviews made me happy (everyone else's did too, mind you, keep 'em coming!)**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Haru!**

**Haru: Isn't it supposed to be Sokka's turn?**

**Me: Yeah it is, but he wants to kill me for writing Zutara, I don't wanna let him have that chance before I finish.**

**Haru: Oh, okay then, JJ doesn't own anything.**

**

* * *

Espressivo**

**Expressivo**- with expression

* * *

"_Maybe I am knee-deep in denial,  
__Maybe I'm just tryin' to move on,  
__Maybe I should (I should) keep away a while,  
__But if distance is right I'd rather be wrong,"_  
Still in Love, Brooke Fraser

* * *

Zuko stared after Katara as her brother dragged her away into the forest.

Aang, he figured, still didn't trust him and his Uncle completely to stay with them without the others, so hastily, the Airbender picked up his glider and said, "I'm going to see if those guards are done chasing us, tell the other two,"

"What if they don't believe us?" asked the Fire Prince, "You yourself don't trust us completely,"

"Good point," said Aang, then he added thoughtfully, "Uhh…answer honestly, Zuko, if you had captured me, would you let me have my staff?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow in confusion. "No…"

"Okay, I'll take this with me, they'll believe you,"

And with that the young monk left.

"Alone again," said Iroh after a moments silence, taking a seat on a nearby tree stump and twiddling his thumbs.

Zuko sighed wearily. He wasn't blind, he could easily see that his Uncle wanted to know something. "What do you want, Uncle?" he snapped.

The old man scoffed. "As if you don't know,"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Iroh couldn't help but laugh at his nephew's uncharacteristic naiveté. "Tell me now Prince Zuko,"

"Tell you what?" snapped Zuko half shouting in frustration. This conversation was infuriating—not to mention pointless, the retiree probably just wanted to talk about tea…

Iroh paused. He had to think about this carefully if he didn't want Zuko yelling and burning him unintentionally out of rage. So, choosing his words cautiously, Iroh said, "You're almost ready to marry, correct?"

"Yes…" said Zuko slowly. "Why…?"

"Well…you need to find a bride,"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Iroh was amazed his nephew couldn't see where this was going—then again, that might be a good thing. "Do you have anyone in mind?" he asked, bracing himself for the explosion that would follow.

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "Have you gone insane?" he asked. "I'm a _banished _Prince, why would I have anyone in mind?"

Iroh blinked. That wasn't at all what he expected. Did Zuko's IQ drop or something? Not only that but he spoke freely of his banishment—almost as if he couldn't care less that he had been kicked out of the Fire Nation.

There was only one explanation—this was Katara's doing.

Iroh had to hand it to her; she was good. _Very _good—he was ready to pay money that no one else could do what the girl had done—she had gotten the Prince to _let go_. She had managed to get the Prince to let go of the past and embrace the fact that his father was evil, that things would never be the same again, that he couldn't hide who he really was just because of some stupid punishment his father had placed on him.

She had gotten him to be a normal sixteen year-old boy.

How _did _she do it?

Coming back to reality, Iroh shrugged. "I don't know," he started, "but I'm sure you must have _someone _in mind,"

Iroh tried to stop the grin that was coming, but he couldn't do it. He could almost _see_ the gears in Zuko's head trying to work out what he was talking about.

And then, it clicked.

"This is about Katara isn't it?"

_Bingo._

"Maybe…" answered Iroh slowly.

"Uncle, there is _nothing _between us," said Zuko, emphasising the word 'nothing' as much as he could.

"But you like her, yes?" asked Iroh, deciding that it was time to let the cat out of the bag. Zuko had figured it out anyway.

"Well, y-yes, but not like _that_," stuttered the Prince.

Iroh smirked.

"Who put you up to this?" asked Zuko.

"No one, you're my nephew, I want to know,"

"_Why_ do you want to know?"

"So you do like her," said Iroh, "as more than just a friend,"

"No!"

"Well just supposing then," said the old man. "Do you think she would make a good Fire Lady?"

If Zuko were eating at that moment, he would have choked on his food. He stared at his Uncle. "You want me to answer that?"

"Of course, I wouldn't have asked it if I didn't," Iroh smiled triumphantly at the look on his nephew's face. Yes, this was _very_ enjoyable indeed. He had him cornered.

"Well, I-I guess she would…she's a waterbender though, most people won't be too happy on that,"

"Would you ever consider marrying _her _then?" asked Iroh. He knew it was sadism, but it was fun watching his nephew squirm like this, and besides, sadism was a part of life.

Zuko paled slightly at the thought. He was sixteen years old and he was a _Prince_. Why the hell was he paling at the thought of marrying a waterbender? Whom he liked as more than a friend? Shouldn't that second part make it easier?

Shaking it off, Zuko answered. "Well…it wouldn't hurt, she's a kind, talented and intelligent girl even though she's just peasant, she would make a very good Fire Lady, it's just the fact that she's a waterbender. Water and fire don't really mix…"

"But you would, wouldn't you?" asked Iroh.

Zuko sighed wearily. "If I say it, will you leave me alone?"

"Depends on what you say," said Iroh.

Zuko checked to make sure both Katara and Sokka (thinking the name didn't count as saying it, and he was getting tired of 'peasant' anyway, Zuko needed to come up with something new, like 'pinhead') were still out of earshot, then he took a breath, steeling himself for what he was about to say.

"Yes, I would marry her," he said quietly, "She's a kind, intelligent, talented and beautiful girl and she means…" Zuko paused. What _did_ she mean to him?

"A lot to me," he finished lamely. Well, he wasn't always good with words anyway.

"A lot? That's it?"

"I'm not a descriptive person, Uncle!" he snapped.

"Eh, not what I was looking for, but good enough," said the old man with a shrug.

"What _were_ you looking for?" asked Zuko.

"More along the lines of 'yes, I have fallen head over heels in love with the waterbender' or something similar to that sentence," said Iroh twiddling his thumbs innocently yet again.

Zuko glared at the old man. "Uncle, I said it, okay? Leave me alone,"

"Okay, fine, I'll tell her then,"

"Don't you dare!" hissed Zuko threateningly. "And besides, her brother would kill me, the Avatar likes her and she'd probably reject me,"

Iroh blinked. Ooh, there _was _a flaw in his plan. Of course, he knew that the girl liked, possibly loved his nephew back, and of course he knew her brother would try to murder the future Fire Lord, but he forgot about the Avatar's feelings for the girl.

Big flaw. How the heck was he supposed to solve this so that Zuko and Katara would get together and live happily ever after in the Fire Nation with several children on their laps? Ooh, this was tough…

Eh, he would sort it out later, right now, he had to try to force Katara to admit her feelings towards Zuko. _How_ to do it without drowning was the hard part…

* * *

Katara and Zuko, Sokka observed, spent most of the day avoiding each other. Whether either one of them knew that the other was avoiding them at the same time as they were, he didn't know, but it was certain that they didn't want to be seen near each other too often. Throughout the day, the two teenagers only spoke to each other when they needed to.

Sokka was no blind man. He knew that Katara had feelings for Zuko even if she continued to deny it—and she knew too. However true it was though, he did not want to believe it. There was NO way Sokka was going to accept the fact that his baby sister had fallen in love with a stupid, Fire Nation, idiot of a Prince. He resented that fact…

And Aang was supposed to steal Katara's heart anyway.

His common sense told him to let it go. To just let Katara be with who she wants to be with, but the Big Book of Big Brother Rules told him otherwise. The Big Book of Big Brother Rules said, 'No man is worthy of your younger sister unless the big brother himself has deemed him worthy OR unless they have proved themselves so,'

In Sokka's copy, it said in big, bold lettering, 'NO FIRE NATION MAN WILL EVER BE WORTHY OF YOUR SISTER,'

But the last rule annoyed him. 'Your sister must be _happy_,'

_Happy_. With the exception of today, Katara was always _happy _around Zuko. _Happy _or extremely relaxed and contented was what she was. Not once had she been upset around Zuko—it was almost as if he had control over Katara's emotions.

Still, he wasn't going to allow it. Nope, never in a million years would he let his sister fall in love with that _prick_.

_Let it go Sokka, let it go._

* * *

Zula took a bite out of her apple and read the letter that one of the soldiers had handed to her. It was news about her brother and—

_Cough. _"Ack! Ahem!"

What was written on the parchment had made her choke on her apple.

"_Princess,  
__there is news about your brother—  
__he has developed a liking for one of the Avatar's companions—the Waterbender. _

_At the moment, they are camped within the forest outside a small village on the southwest edge of the earth kingdom."_

She stared at the third line incredulously. Her brother had fallen in love with a _Waterbender_. And she thought that he could sink no lower.

Zuko was in for it now, even if he was kicked out of the Fire Nation. Once the Fire Lord found out, there was no possible way for him to return without being burnt within seconds.

* * *

Katara sat at the river's edge bending a small stream of water through the stain on her dress. She had accidentally spilt a large amount of berry juice on her dress and there was now a large patch of dark purple on the cloth.

Aang had returned a few hours ago and after making sure that Sokka and Zuko wouldn't kill each other, she walked off towards the river to wash out the juice.

"Hello Miss Katara,"

The girl jumped and turned to see Iroh standing behind her.

"Oh! General—"

"Uncle," corrected the old man.

"Uncle then," she started. "You scared me, do you need anything?"

"No," answered Iroh. "I just wanted to talk,"

_Careful Iroh, she's next to water, _thought the old man.

"About what?"

"About my nephew,"

"Oh gods, not _again_," snapped the girl. "How many times do I have to say that we didn't—"

"I'm not going to start up again," said Iroh, waving his hands in defence. "Please don't drown me," he added meekly.

Katara couldn't help but laugh.

"I was just going to ask; do you think he would make a better Fire Lord than his father?"

Katara thought about this before answering. 'Of course he would!' would've been her immediate answer, but she knew Iroh would ask why. Unable to think of a better answer than her initial one, she answered him.

"Of course, he's a good man, Zuko," she said slowly choosing her words carefully.

"Why would you say that?" asked Iroh, also choosing carefully at his choice of words.

Katara bit her lip. How was she supposed to answer without making Iroh suspicious of her feelings towards Zuko?

Finally, she answered hesitantly, "Because he's not evil like his father, he's so much more…" she paused, not knowing what to say next.

"He's so much more _human_," she finished.

"What do you mean?" asked the old man.

"Well, he doesn't want this war to continue, and he's actually not that bad" Katara answered getting up. She could tell where this conversation was going. "And like I said, he's not evil,"

"Would you ever consider letting him court you?"

Katara stared at him. "Oh no you don't, we are not going near that subject again!"

Iroh blinked. "I'm just asking," he said with a shrug. "And besides, all you have to do is say the sentence I want to hear about my nephew and I'll leave you alone,"

The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Just admit it, just tell me honestly what you think of my nephew,"

Katara weighed her options. Tell the old man the truth about what she thought his nephew and then he would leave her alone. Was there a down side to this?

"Why?" she asked.

Iroh shrugged. "Because I can? And you're a smart girl Katara, I'm sure one day you'll know exactly why I want to know. Now tell me what you think of Zuko and I'll never bother you on the subject again,"

The girl scrutinized the old man carefully. "Swear on your honour that you'll leave me alone,"

_Darn it, she's good! _Thought Iroh bitterly. _No more fun for me!_

"Alright, fine," he said. "I swear on my honour that I will leave you alone if you say the sentence I want to hear, now tell me what you think of my nephew,"

Katara took a breath and answered reluctantly. "Your nephew, Prince Zuko," she started, "is a kind, gracious man. He would make a great Fire Lord, I can tell that he is a great leader and if given the chance, he could change the Fire Nation and it's citizens…" Katara trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

"And…?" Iroh egged her on.

"And if he were ever to take a true liking to me," she continued, looking away with a blush creeping to her face, "then I would gladly return the feeling…"

"That's a very complicated sentence, say it in the simplest terms you can think of and I will never bother you about the subject again," said Iroh with a stupid grin on his face.

If Katara blushed anymore, she'd probably be crimson for the rest of her life. "Fine! Within the two weeks he's been with us, I've met a different side to him, and I think," she gulped. "And I think I've fallen in love with him," she finished quietly. "There, I said it, are you happy now?"

"Very," answered Iroh with the stupidest grin on his face.

"And I am too," said some one else's voice.

"Oh gods," said Katara burying her face in her hands in embarrassment and shame. "You heard everything, didn't you Zuko?" she mumbled into her palms.

"Every word," said Zuko with a small smile—a small smile, but a _true_ smile, something he had not worn in two years.

"Thank you," he said and glanced at his Uncle telling him to leave.

Iroh did so with no objection—after all, it was mission accomplished for him. He had successfully played matchmaker yet again.

**Ha! Iroh wins again! And Zula knows about Zuko and Katara! **

**Tell me honestly guys, I swear I'm rushing this, but let me know if you think otherwise. Any who, I'll try and get another one up by Monday.**

**Title and Quote—umm…they both kind of explain themselves.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	16. Staccato

**Hi Guys!**

**Sorry about the wait, I know I said I'd get this up by Monday but I got kicked off the computer and now I'm not allowed to use it during weekdays. **

**Any who, this is for Skidoodle-Snickerdoodle (love the pen name, lol) who has told me to (I quote) 'STOP READING THIS REVIEW AND WRITE! WRITE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER WRITTEN BEFORE,' lol, that, one made me laugh. Thanks for that.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Suki?**

**Suki: Yeah, okay, JJ owns nothing.**

**Sokka: Suki! You're supposed to attack her! Or glare even! She's writing Zutara!**

**Suki: What's wrong with that? I always knew they'd get together.**

**Me: Thank you, Suki. Shoo, Sokka.**

**

* * *

Staccato**

**Staccato**- When a dot is placed under over a note, that note is to sound detached. The note would be played shorter than its original value—it would sound short and precise.

* * *

"_What happened to you and me? (Ahh, ahh)  
One moment changed everything, (Ahh, ahh)"_  
My Only, Goodnight Nurse

* * *

Katara waited until she was sure that Iroh was out of earshot before turning to Zuko. She could feel heat around her ears that told her she was blushing _very _deeply.

"So, uhh…" she began, refusing to look Zuko in the eye. "How long have you been listening?"

Zuko couldn't help but smirk. "Long enough to hear what you think about me," he paused, wondering whether he should ask. Finally, curiosity got the better of him. "Did you mean it?" he asked quietly.

Katara could feel his gaze lingering on her forehead trying to catch her eye, but she didn't look up. She continued staring at her shoes and playing with her fingers as she answered. There was no use trying to lie now—the blush on her face would give it away and besides, Zuko had heard everything.

"Yes…" she mumbled, not looking up.

Zuko looked down at her not knowing what to say next. "You really think I'm not a monster?" he asked finally. "Even after all the times I chased you and Aang and Sokka around the world trying to capture you and deliver you to my father, you don't think I'm a monster?"

Katara looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. "Since when did you start referring to Aang and my brother by their names?"

"Since Aang decided that he'd annoy me until I did, honestly, that kid's worse than my Uncle," replied Zuko chuckling lightly.

Katara stared at him. "Are you okay? You never laugh,"

"Would you rather I never laughed again?" he asked.

The girl laughed and shook her head.

"You still haven't answered my question," said Zuko. "How can you not think I'm a monster?"

"Because you're not," she answered. "Everything I said to your Uncle was the truth,"

"_Would _you ever consider letting me court you?" he asked, almost curiously.

Katara laughed. "I _would_," she said, "but that's kinda not my decision, you'd have to ask Sokka or my father first…" She trailed off when she realised how very close they were.

"I haven't formally apologised to you have I?" he asked looking her in the eye.

Katara stared right back. He had her now and she couldn't look away—his amber eyes had her hypnotised. "Apologised for what?" she asked quietly.

"For everything I've put you through," he answered. "For threatening to hurt your village, for tying you to that tree, for attacking you at the North Pole…"

"Zuko, shh," whispered Katara, silencing him with a finger to his lips. "None of that matters anymore, what matters now is that you've joined us, the good guys, and that you want to help stop this war…"

Zuko felt himself drowning in her sapphire eyes. He lifted a hand and caressed her cheek softly. He traced her jaw line and lifted her chin, mentally fighting himself trying to decide whether to bridge the gap between them or not.

_Just do it!  
_

No!

_Come on, Zuko! She's right there! She wants you to!  
_

No! I'm not doing it! If we were caught—

_Just lean forward and kiss her, it's not that hard!  
_

Did I just interrupt myself?

_Just do it already!_

Zuko's 'other side' didn't get to counter for the side that was head over heels in love with Katara took control of his motor skills and made him lean forward and kiss the girl gently on the lips.

Katara gasped softly in shock, and Zuko took this as an opportunity to deepen the kiss slightly. And from there, Katara could not help herself—she found herself kissing back, and the kiss went from soft and innocent to more passionate and loving.

Really, Katara _could not_ help it—she melted at the Fire Prince's touch. He was strong, handsome, talented…he smelt faintly of charcoal, and his lips tasted _so good_ against hers. And she had to say, the Fire Prince was _hot_—in both senses of the word.

Katara moaned into his mouth and finally, the need for air overwhelmed the two teenagers and they reluctantly broke apart, foreheads resting against each other and breathing heavily.

For Katara, the moment felt so _perfect_, but the feeling didn't last.

There was the sound of breaking pottery and then someone else's voice.

"Katara…_how could you?_"

* * *

Iroh smirked to himself as he left the two benders by the river's edge. Did they honestly think he would leave them alone? Sure he wouldn't bug them about the subject, but that didn't mean he couldn't _spy_ on them.

Quietly as he could, the old man crept through the trees trying to find a good bush to hide behind. Finally spotting one that was out of sight from the two of them, Iroh crouched behind it and watched.

As Zuko leant forward and kissed the Waterbender lightly, Iroh mentally congratulated himself on a job well done. From what he could see, the girl deepened the kiss after a moment of shock. Iroh whooped silently at the sight before him. This was just too good miss.

Well, part one was done, now he had to sort out the Avatar problem and make sure that he didn't kill Zuko, or ruin the moment for that matter.

"Katara…_how could you?_"

_Too_ _late_.

Iroh peeped through the bushes and saw that Aang had a look of pure shock on his face whilst Katara had a look of pure horror. As the Avatar ran back into the forest, Iroh realised—he had just done something unbelievably stupid—he had brought together the Fire Prince and the Waterbender. Katara's brother would throw a fit if he found out, and now Aang was upset with one of his closest friends.

What had he _done_?

* * *

Aang ignored the voice calling him back. He was upset, he felt betrayed, and there was NO way he was going to talk to that…that…_traitor_ to make him feel better.

He couldn't _believe _what she had just done! She had just kissed the Fire Prince! Of all people, she had kissed that _idiot_! And what's more, she _knew_! He was sure of it, she _knew _how he, Aang, felt, yet she kissed that _idiot _as if she didn't care, as if he didn't exist.

The hero was supposed to get the girl. The 'hero' was supposed to be him, Aang; the Avatar, not that prick. That _prick _was the enemy up until two weeks ago. That _prick _was the stupid, spoilt, Fire Nation Prince. It was that _prick's _father who wanted him dead so he could not stop Souzen's Comet. Yet she still kissed him.

"Aang, wait! Please, let me talk to you!" Her voice was breaking into sobs and the footsteps following him began to slow and come to a stop, but Aang kept running.

Summoning a great cushion of air beneath his feet, he leapt up into the nearest tree onto the highest branch he could find.

And he never wanted to come down.

* * *

Katara felt tears stinging her eyes as she stopped trying to chase after Aang. She felt horrible. Her best friend was furious at her. She didn't mean to hurt him, really she didn't. He was her best friend, but that was all, Aang was just a friend.

But that made her feel worse.

Katara collapsed onto her knees and let the tears fall down her cheeks. She felt Zuko kneel down next to her and place a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry," he whispered pulling her into his embrace. "This is all my fault,"

"No, Zuko, it's not, it's _my _fault," she sobbed into his chest.

"No, it's not—"

"Zuko, you don't understand!" she cried. "I _knew! _I _knew_ how Aang felt about me and I ignored him! I acted like I didn't know! I completely ignored him and acted like he didn't exist! I am such a thoughtless _wench! _I practically betrayed him!"

Zuko stroked the sobbing girl's hair trying to comfort her. "Shh," he whispered. "Don't call yourself a wench, Katara, you're not, and none of this is—"

"Don't tell me it isn't my fault, Zuko!" she snapped through her tears and pulling away from him. "Don't tell me it isn't my fault because it is! All of it!"

"Katara—"

"No, no, you don't understand…" she sobbed. "Zuko, Aang is my best friend, but he liked me as more than that. I knew but I completely ignored it and when he saw me kiss you…" she trailed off not wanting to continue.

Zuko pulled her back into his arms where she continued to sob against his chest. He kissed her hair lightly trying to make her feel better, but by the way she acted, it did the exact opposite.

"Zuko, don't…" she whispered. "I can't…we can't…" and then a fresh stream of tears overwhelmed her.

Finally, Katara pulled out of his embrace and stood up. Without another word, she began to walk back towards the river, but Zuko caught her wrist and stopped her.

"Katara, wait—"

"Let go of me, Zuko," she said quietly wiping tears away from her eyes with her other arm. "Please,"

"Katara—"

"Let go of me," There was a note of finality in her voice and though she refused to look him in the eye, Zuko could see in her sapphire orbs that she meant it. Her eyes, though they were staring at the ground said, 'Let me go, NOW,'

"Let. Go." She repeated, this time even more firmly than the last.

Zuko sighed and released her wrist and without another word she walked back towards the river.

Katara did not return camp that night. Aang did, after making sure that Katara wasn't around and as soon as he was done eating, he walked back into the woods and climbed his tree again.

Iroh stared guiltily at his food during dinner and Zuko sat away from the rest of the group. The only one who seemed to have no idea what was happening was Sokka. Noticing that his sister was not at dinner, he immediately rounded on Zuko who said she was at the river.

Sokka, being the overprotective big brother that he was, practically swallowed the rest of his food in one gulp and then left the two Firebenders at camp after Aang left and headed towards the river.

Katara sat on the edge of the bank absently playing with the water, bending it into different shapes as Sokka approached her. Whether she didn't care that he was there or she didn't notice, he couldn't tell, but she was upset, he knew that.

Bloodshot eyes and tearstained cheeks, Sokka could tell immediately that this had something to do with Zuko.

"Katara?" he asked tentatively, knowing that she was likely to explode in this state.

The Waterbender jumped and dropped the water snake. "Sokka!" she said wiping tears away from her eyes with her sleeve. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't come to dinner, are you okay?"

Just as Katara was about to answer, Sokka interrupted her. "Wait, actually, don't answer that, _why_ didn't you come back to camp?"

"It's none of your business, Sokka," she muttered.

Ignoring her answer, Sokka pressed on. "Does this have anything to do with Zuko?"

When Katara, didn't answer, Sokka took it as a 'yes'.

"Oh gods, you're not pregnant, are you Katara?"

Katara stared at her brother. Had the situation been less serious, she would have laughed. She shook her head and turned back to the river.

"Tell me what's wrong, Katara, please, I have the right to know,"

"You wouldn't understand…"

"Katara, please," said Sokka, almost irritably, "I made a promise to dad that I would protect you from any one or anything, how am I supposed to do that if you won't let me?"

"That's just it, Sokka," she sniffed. "From _anyone_ or _anything_, if I told you what was going on in my life you'd instantly try to murder anyone involved! Please, just let me take care of this on my own…"

"Katara—"

"Sokka, leave me alone," she muttered. It was quiet, yes, but nevertheless firm—and the water in the river beginning to churn emphasised it, a lot.

Sokka sighed, acknowledging the warning the water was giving. "Come back to camp with me, at least,"

Katara shook her head and continued to stare at the river.

"Alright, fine," said Sokka, "but if you're not back within the next half hour, I'm dragging you back, no matter what you say,"

Katara gave him no indication that she had heard him, but he turned around and left anyway. If his sister wouldn't talk, then maybe the two Firebenders would care to explain what was happening…

**So…tell me, how was this one? A lot of people hate me now, don't they…**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	17. Bruscamente

**Hi Guys! **

**Here's your next chapter! I'm so very happy you enjoyed the previous one—do you know how long it took me to writ e it? The full week, and the number of times I had to _rewrite _it? 'Bout 8 times.**

**Right, ranting over, this chapter is for those short, warm-fuzzy reviews Monito gives me. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: King Bumi, if you please?**

**Bumi: Yes, of course. Gnihton snwo yajyllej.**

**Me: In English, please.**

**Bumi: Jellyjay owns nothing.**

**

* * *

Bruscamente**

**Bruscamente-**Brusquely, curtly

* * *

"_He was always there to help her,  
She always belonged to someone else,"  
_She Will Be Loved, Maroon 5

* * *

Sokka returned to camp with the intention of quickly asking Iroh of what was going on and then returning to the river to drag his sister back with him.

When he arrived back at the clearing, Zuko was leaning against a tree sulkily while Iroh guiltily bustled around preparing to go back to Zuko's ship.

So Iroh was involved in this too? And by the looks of things, he had done something to make the situation worse.

"General Iroh," said Sokka as approached the old man.

"Sokka, why so formal?" asked the sage, as if he didn't have anything to do with the situation at hand. "Please, be like your sister and call me Iroh…or Uncle…or Uncle Iroh,"

Sokka stared at him for a second before continuing. "Sure…" he said. "Anyway, I was wondering whether you knew why my sister's so upset,"

Iroh sighed wearily. He regretted what he'd done, but there was no hiding from it now. He considered lying to the boy for a second but decided against, figuring he'd done enough damage for one day. Though he felt Sokka had the right to know what was going on in Katara's life, it wasn't his, Iroh's, job to tell him.

"I would tell you, young Sokka, but really, it's none of my business, therefore I don't have the right to," he said. "If anyone should tell you, it should be Katara, for she has the most difficult position, and she is your sister,"

"Iroh, she won't talk to me, she said I wouldn't understand!"

"That's because it's true, you wouldn't," answered the retiree. "If she also said you would kill anyone involved if she told you, that's true too," Iroh paused for a moment. To hell with it, he thought, it wouldn't hurt to give the boy _some_ clue to what was going on. "Really, Sokka, we don't want the future Fire Lord dead, or the Avatar for that matter,"

"So both Aang and Zuko have something to do with this?" asked Sokka.

"I didn't say that," said Iroh slightly defensively. "I said we don't want either one of them dead,"

Sokka tried to decipher this but after a moment, he decided that riddles weren't his area of expertise.

Iroh gave him a fatherly clap on the shoulder and turned to go back to the ship, but he backtracked when he remembered one last piece of advice. "One more thing," he said. "If Aang tells you what happened before you get the chance to talk to your sister, don't judge Zuko or Katara by the boy's story alone, listen to both sides before coming to a conclusion,"

As the old man left, Sokka pondered on his departing words. _Don't judge Zuko and Katara by the boy's story alone_…

The way that sounded, Katara had done something to upset Aang who upset Katara by the way he acted. Sokka took a moment and put Zuko into the picture. This meant that Katara and Zuko had done something to upset Aang who upset Katara by his reaction.

Sokka came to two conclusions—

A) Katara had betrayed them and went with Zuko to his ship and told them about Aang's whereabouts—this seemed highly unlikely.

B) Katara had fallen in love with the Fire Prince and Aang had caught them red handed either making out or doing something else.

Sokka hated both possibilities and seeing as Zuko had the nerve to come back to camp without Katara, it had to be the second.

Sweet, sweet gods above, he hoped that both conclusions he had come to were wrong. Sokka wasn't prepared to accept the fact that his Waterbending sister had fallen in love with the Prince of the Fire Nation. In fact, not only was he not prepared, but he was not willing to accept it. Ever.

But it was better than the first option—he'd rather have his sister in love with the Fire Prince than his sister betraying them.

There was only one way to find out if his conclusions were correct.

"Zuko! What the hell is going on? Why's Katara so upset, and this has something to do with you, I know it!"

But Zuko wasn't there. He had left while Sokka was to talking to Iroh—Sokka was now alone in the clearing. He was definite Zuko didn't know where Aang was as Aang had two hours ago, but Sokka knew instantly where he had gone anyway—Zuko had gone to the river to find Katara.

* * *

"Katara?"

For the second time that night, Katara was disturbed from her thoughts, this time by Zuko. "Oh," she said, wiping her eyes, "Zuko, it's you,"

"Come back to camp, please, your brother's worried about you, _I'm _worried about you," he said softly approaching her and sitting down next to her.

Katara shook her head and continued to stare at the river.

"Katara, please, you can't keep beating yourself up like this! You don't deserve it!"

"Yes I do," she mumbled. "I betrayed Aang. The Avatar, the saviour of the world, the guy who's supposed to stop this stupid war, is mad at me. He's heartbroken and probably will never speak to me again. If Aang isn't able to stop the comet because of he's been emotionally betrayed, it'll be because of me, a no good, stupid, selfish Waterbending wench who just completely ignored him,"

'Katara, stop!" said Zuko firmly, grasping her arms and turning her to face him. "This isn't your fault! _You _didn't do anything! _I_ kissed you, not the other way around! Stop blaming yourself!"

"I let you though," she sniffed. "I let you kiss me even though—"

"Katara listen to me!" growled the Prince, his grip on her arms tightening slightly so that she'd snap out of the 'self-accusing' trance. "_Nothing_ is your fault, alright? Everything's going to be fine, you just have to stop blaming yourself for something you didn't mean to happen, okay?"

"Zuko stop trying to—"

"No, Katara, you stop. Stop wallowing in guilt because you didn't do anything, I did, now stop it,"

"Zuko—"

"_Stop. It. Now._"

Katara stared at the Fire Prince for a moment before yet again bursting into tears. Zuko released her arms and pulled her into a comforting embrace—and there she stayed, crying non-stop into Zuko's chest.

"I'm just so confused," she whispered. "Aang's angry at me just because of how I feel , but he was just a friend, that's all. And then there's Sokka. What'll he say if finds out? Obviously he'll try to kill you, but what'll he think of me? He was the one who told me about Aang's feelings for me in the first place, so what'll he think if he found out I completely ignored Aang?"

"Shh, don't cry, Katara," whispered Zuko stroking her hair gently.

Katara sobbed quietly but tried not to let anymore tears fall. The two teenagers stayed in that position for a while—Katara leaning on Zuko's chest, Zuko's arms around the girl comforting her, one hand stroking her hair softly—until Katara spoke up again.

"And what about you?" she asked. "Why _did_ you kiss me?"

Zuko didn't answer right away. Damn her for asking that, he wasn't the type of person to admit his feelings, but what was he supposed to say? Zuko hated seeing the girl like this and if he lied, she'd feel even worse.

"Because," he said after a moment of silence. "As you said to my Uncle earlier today, I've think I've fallen in love too,"

Katara looked up at him and pulled away.

"What's wrong?" he asked fearing that she'd decided to reject him.

"Nothing," she sniffed giving him a small smile. "I just never thought you'd actually say that out loud…"

Zuko smirked. "Neither did I, but you've said it, I guess it was my turn,"

Katara giggled a little as Zuko leaned in a kissed her lightly on the nose and then less lightly on the lips.

"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER, ZUKO!"

Katara broke away from him and gasped as she saw Sokka charging towards Zuko ready to attack. Immediately, Katara got to her feet and held him back.

"Sokka, stop!"

"He just—Katara, Zuko just _kissed _you!" the water tribe boy spluttered.

"I noticed, Sokka, don't hurt him,"

"But…" Sokka looked from his sister to the Firebender she was defending. So his conclusions were right, but he still needed as explanation. "I think it's time you two explained to me what the hell is going on,"

Katara sighed and sat back down next to Zuko. She motioned for Sokka to do the same and from there she told him everything, Zuko chipping in every now and then pointing out things she had forgotten.

"So that's why you've been so upset?" he asked when she finished. "Because Aang's angry at you for kissing Zuko?"

"She didn't kiss me," said Zuko. "It's the other way around, Aang's mad a t her because he thought she kissed me, but it's my fault as _I _kissed her,"

Sokka nodded and there was an uneasy pause. Finally, Sokka spoke up again.

"Katara, why didn't you just tell me? I could have helped,"

Katara stared at the ground as she answered. "Because, Sokka, you would have killed Zuko, and because Aang was the one who upset me, you might've killed him too,"

"Why would you think that?"

Katara scoffed. "Because you're an overprotective brother and always have been?" She gave a heavy sigh and stood up. "I have to go talk to Aang, I can't let him be mad at me forever,"

Both boys nodded and got up as well as she left.

As Zuko began to walk back to camp, Sokka called him back.

"Zuko, wait!"

"What?"

Sokka glared at him. He really couldn't see what his sister could see in _this_ arrogant jerk, but then again, he would never the able to figure out the way girls' brains work.

"I want to know, Zuko, what do you want from my sister?"

"Not again! Sokka, I don't want anything from her, all I want is for her to be happy alright? That's all," he answered.

Sokka glared at him. Zuko had a good answer, he had to give him that, but he wasn't satisfied.

"If you even try hurting her, I swear, I'll—"

"Kill me, I know," interrupted Zuko.

"A long and painful death, I assure you," he muttered darkly.

"Wait…aren't you going to kill me _now_?" asked Zuko.

Sokka smirked at him. "We both want Katara to be happy, killing you without a good enough reason would do the exact opposite,"

* * *

Aang walked gloomily back to camp. He really didn't want to come back in case Katara was there, but he had to. If he didn't, Appa might start attacking those who didn't deserve it. He came back to find the campsite dark and empty—the others must be looking for him or something.

Using his recently acquired firebending skills, Aang lit the campfire by simply thrusting his wrist out towards the small pile of wood. Flames erupted from the heel of his hand and instantly created a roaring fire.

"Aang?"

Aang jumped and turned to find Katara standing not too far behind him.

"Oh," he said curtly. "It's you,"

"Aang, please—"

"I don't wanna hear it Katara," he said coldly. "You knew, I know that for a fact,"

"Aang, listen to me, please—"

"How could you kiss that _prick_?" he asked savagely—so savagely that Katara flinched. "He was our enemy up until two weeks ago! His father wants me dead! His father's trying to take over the world! And it was his nation that invaded your village and killed my people, _how_ _could_ _you_?"

"Aang, please, I know your mad at me, but please, just listen to me," pleaded Katara, tears pricking her eyes again. "You have to understand—"

"I have to understand what? That you couldn't care less if that _prick_ turned me in?" snapped Aang.

"Aang, listen to me! I didn't mean for it to happen, okay? It just did! So what if he was our enemy up until two weeks ago? He's not anymore! It's his _father_ who's trying to take over the world, not him! It was his nation that invaded my village and killed your people, _not him_! You're supposed to be the Avatar, Aang! You're supposed to keep the peace and the four elements in balance! How can you do that if you're too busy taking your anger out on me and Zuko? And what's wrong with it anyway?"

"Katara, don't you understand?" yelled Aang, the fire blazing upwards with his anger. The arrow on his head began to glow the faint blue it shone with when the Avatar was angry. "Fire and water eliminate each other! Neither one can live with the other in perfect harmony! They. Will. Destroy. Each. Other! I just….I can't believe you Katara, I really can't…what the heck can you see in him? It's…just…"

Aang trailed off as Katara backed away from him in a mixture of fear and confusion. And he realised what he had done—he had turned his jealousy into anger and taken it out on his best friend.

"I'm sorry, Katara," he said quietly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to lose it like that, it's just that…you and Zuko…I just don't know how to accept it…"

Katara shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Aang, _I'm_ sorry, I really didn't mean for that kiss to happen…it just did. I'm sorry for ignoring you and your feelings. I'm sorry for being such a thoughtless, selfish wench…"

"Forget about it, Katara, I forgive you, I just need some time alone, I need some time to think…"

"Aang—"

"Please, Katara, I forgive you, just give me a little time alone, please don't stay angry at me…"

Katara smiled weakly and flung herself onto Aang giving him a strong hug. Aang patted her back awkwardly and managed a small smile.

"Angry at you?" she asked, suddenly realising what the end of Aang's sentence meant. "Why would I be angry at you?"

Aang shrugged. "For taking it out on you? For being angry at you when you really didn't mean anything to happen? For jumping to conclusions and completely forgetting my job as the Avatar? For completely overlooking the fact that Zuko's an actual person and isn't his father? All of those, probably,"

Katara pulled away from him and studied him for a moment. "So…we're cool?"

Aang nodded and gave her a small grin. "We're cool, again, I just want some time to think…and besides, I'm a monk, monks can't get married, I don't really know why I freaked out like that,"

Katara smiled at him and gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Aang, and I'm sorry—"

"Stop apologising, Katara, I get it," and with a final grin, Aang took his glider and flew off into the trees.

**Yay! They made up! (Does happy dance). Okay… we're nearly there guys, and after I finish, I'm gonna let you guys decide what fic I should write next. I'll give you the options to vote for when I post a future chapter 'Alla Marcia' and then by the end of this fic, I'll count up the votes and get to work on the nest one!**

**That's not for another 2 chapters though.**

**Till then,**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	18. Tempo I

**Hey Guys!**

**Again, sorry for the wait, but I really only have time to update when I don't have school. Anyway, here's your next chapter. It's for Sukia Fire who fell out of her chair when she saw I had updated. Don't fall out of your chair again, Sukia! Lol.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Uhhh…who haven't I asked…Meng!**

**Meng: What am I supposed to do?**

**Me: Just tell everyone I don't own anything.**

**Meng: Ummm…Jellyjay doesn't own anything?**

**Me: Thank you**

**

* * *

Tempo I**

**Tempo I**- resume original speed

* * *

"_We are,__  
We are all innocent, __  
We are all innocent,__  
We are, we are…"_  
Innocent, Our Lady Peace

* * *

Iroh returned to the ship later on that night hoping that everything would be fine between the foursome in the morning—hopefully they didn't figure out that it was his matchmaking skills that put them in that position in the first place.

As he boarded the ship, a panicked-looking soldier—Private Shen, that was his name—hurried up to him.

"General Iroh, sir!" he gasped, trying to catch his breath and barely able to salute. Obviously he'd been running around the ship trying to get things organised.

"Calm down, Shen," said the old man. "Take a few deep breaths first and then explain to me slowly and clearly what has happened…perhaps over a nice cup of tea…"

Shen stared at him. "Sir, this is serious! The Princess! She knows where the Avatar is! She's knows where Prince Zuko is! Apparently she's on her way here!"

Iroh switched on his 'General Mode' and dropped the joke instantly. This was serious as the Private Shen had said—no more tea jokes. "How did she find out?" he asked, frowning.

Shen shrugged. "We don't know, sir, but it seems that she knows everything that has happened—from the whereabouts of Prince Zuko and the Avatar to Prince Zuko's relationship with the Waterbender,"

Iroh blinked. "How did _that _get out?"

"Well sir, there have been rumours about the Avatar and it's not surprising that Princess Zula would—"

"Not _that_! The other thing!" Iroh sighed in frustration. _Iroh! Focus! _"You know what? Forget it, Zula knows everything?"

Shen nodded.

"Well then, it's obvious what this means—there is a traitor onboard,"

* * *

Aang sat on a branch in his tree staring blankly at nothing in particular.

It was true—monks couldn't marry, and he was the Avatar, he wasn't supposed to love one thing more than everything else, but Aang could not help but feel slightly of jealous of _Prince _Zuko.

And the _hero _was supposed to get the girl, why was this so different?

He heaved a heavy sigh and drummed his fingers absently on his staff. He heard a quiet purr from beside him and light footfalls landing on the wooden branches.

"Hey Momo," he said inattentively, stroking the lemur's furry head.

Momo said nothing. Aang wished he did though, it'd be nice if Momo could talk.

The lemur tilted it's head to one side as if asking him what was wrong. Aang smiled grimly at it's curiosity and scratched it behind the ears. "It's nothing Momo," he said answering the lemur's unspoken question.

Momo cocked an eyebrow and gave him a look that said 'Ha, nice try Aang, I may be a lemur but I'm not stupid,'

Aang got the point. He sighed and muttered, "Annoying, nosy lemur…not like you can understand me…"

As if Momo did understand, the lemur chucked a small twig at Aang's head. It hit and bounced off and Aang glared at the lemur. It gave him another look that said, 'Don't be stupid, of course I can understand you, now tell me what's wrong and I won't chuck anything else at you,'

"Momo, you're scaring me, stop looking at me like that! You can't understand me anyway!"

Momo threw another twig at him.

"Alright, fine! I'll let it out! I'm just confused that's all…" _This is stupid—I'm talking to a lemur…_

Momo tilted his head to the side as if asking, 'Why?'

Aang sighed again and muttered in reply. "Katara…she kissed Zuko…I'm just confused, she picked him, of all people, _him_, the Fire Nation Prince—and she's a Waterbender…Why am I talking to you? You're a lemur! There's no way you can understand anything I'm saying! Ouch!" Another twig had hit his head. Momo really did seem to understand him.

It glared at him for a moment before bounding towards him sitting on his head—a sign that the lemur wanted to comfort him. Aang smiled and took Momo off his head and placed him on his lap.

Momo looked up at him. 'It's not good to keep thing bottled up, Aang, you should let someone know how you feel, even if they're just a lemur,'

Aang grinned at the lemur. "Thanks Momo,"

* * *

Aang returned to the campsite the next morning, Momo on his shoulder and his staff in one hand, to find the other three still asleep. Sokka snoring loudly and Katara, her head on Zuko's chest while he leant on a tree in front of the now burnt out fire.

Aang felt a slight twinge of jealousy as he eyed the two, but he swallowed it—he was the Avatar, no relationships allowed. Friendly type only.

The young Avatar looked around the campsite for anything to eat, anything at all. He had had such a small dinner the previous night, then he was up till who knows when, and now he was _starving_.

"Aang?"

"'Morning Sokka,"

"It's about time you got back, Katara told me what happened, we were getting worried about you," said Sokka with a yawn.

Aang shrugged. He looked from Sokka to the two teenagers still asleep next to the pile of wood that used to be the campfire. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Why aren't you trying to kill Zuko?"

Sokka chuckled. "You know, I would _love _to do that, but if I did, Katara would be in an even worse state than yesterday night, speaking of which, are you still upset with her?"

Aang shrugged again. "Not really, I guess…it's just…I dunno, sometimes I hate being the Avatar. Sometimes I hate being _me_. And I'm worried about her, she's a waterbender and Zuko's a firebender…it just seems weird that she chose _him_,"

The water tribe boy sighed. "I know, Aang, I'm worried about her too, but the way people's minds work isn't something that we can control—we can't control who they are or what they feel, we just have to live with it. The only thing we can actually do is make sure Zuko doesn't hurt her, and if he does, you can help me kill him,"

"And if I _do _hurt her—which I assure you, I won't—may you both have no mercy on me,"

Both Aang and Sokka jumped.

"Zuko! What is it with you and not telling people you're awake or that you're there?" snapped Sokka.

Zuko smirked. "It's a thing that I do, live with it, and be quiet, you'll wake your sister," He turned to Aang. "I'm sorry if my actions upset you, Avatar, but hormones are something that no one can control,"

Aang blinked. "You're supposed to be referring to me by my name,"

"Right, sorry, _Aang_,"

"How long have you been listening?" asked Sokka, lowering his voice so that he wouldn't wake Katara.

Zuko shrugged. "I dunno, the first thing I heard was 'Zuko's a firebender,' and I was listening from there," He turned to Aang again but Aang interrupted him before he could say anything.

"We're cool, Zuko, we don't mind you being with Katara. I'm not angry at either of you anymore, but when we say we'll kill you if you hurt her, we mean it, got it?"

Zuko nodded and absently began to stroke the sleeping girl's hair.

After a few moments of silence, Aang spoke up. "Should we wake her up?"

Zuko shook her head. "No, she's had the most difficult situation, just let her sleep,"

"Don't worry about it, Zuko, I'm up," came a sleepy reply. Katara shifted to a more comfortable position but did not sit up—obviously only half awake.

Zuko smirked. "Says her," he muttered.

"Sooo…" said Sokka. "Breakfast time! We need toast,"

"Toast?"

"Yup, you heard me Zuko,"

"Would you like to _be _the toast, Sokka?" snapped Zuko.

Sokka glared at him. "Hey, I've given you my permission, doesn't mean I can't withdraw it!"

"What permission? And withdraw it why? For giving you toast?"

"Shut up, Zuko," snapped Sokka.

Aang chuckled at the argument. "Guys, stop it, you'll wake Katara,"

"No kidding," mumbled the girl. "You guys are so loud,"

Sokka stared at his sister. "Are you awake or not?"

"I'm awake _now_," she muttered. "Seriously, you guys are _so _loud,"

Aang chuckled and reached for a bag next to Appa. "Toast, Katara?"

* * *

The foursome spent the rest of that day lounging around, too lazy to actually cook proper meals and eat at the correct time. It felt as if they were just camping out in the forest. It was one of the few times when all four teenagers had nothing on their minds. Occasionally one of them would go for a walk and then come back with an apple or two from the village market.

Sokka and Zuko had started plenty more arguments during the day but no one really cared—it seemed normal.

"It's so boring here," muttered Katara, later that day. "There's nothing to do,"

"Go to sleep, go for a walk, stare blankly into space even, you'll find something to do," said Sokka monotonously.

Then Zuko spoke up. "You know, I haven't been able to practise bending in a while, and I still haven't been able to have a friendly spar…" he said casting a glance towards Katara.

Katara knew what he was talking about. "Later, Zuko, I'm too lazy to spar _now_,"

Zuko smirked. "Well it's no wonder you're bored,"

Katara chuckled. "Right…"

"C'mon, 'Tara, just a quick spar by the river so there's plenty of water,"

Katara stared at him. "Did you just call me 'Tara'?

"Yeah, well, I'm bored too, what do you expect?"

The girl scoffed. "Why don't you spar against Aang? I'm not the only waterbender around here you know,"

"Yeah, but he's the Avatar, he'll cheat," said Zuko.

"Hey!"

Katara laughed. "Yeah, alright fine, let's go,"

Sokka eyed them suspiciously as the two left, then once he was sure they were out of earshot, he turned to Aang. "Keep an eye on them, Aang,"

**Sorry guys, but you're going to have to wait for the next chapter to see them spar. Why, you ask? Because I need to freshen up (catch my drift?) and I ran out of refill at school so I couldn't continue writing the chapter during boring classes. (Did you notice that this chapter was really random?)**

**Also, to those who are still reading, I did a chapter count and turns out there are, like, 8-10 chapters left. The list looked so tiny on the plan! 10 chapters look like 5 and so on and so forth.**

**Right, ranting over.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	19. Accelerando

**Hey guys!**

**I screwed up the last chapter, soz about that, so this chapter's going to make up for it (at least I hope it does). So, not much else to say except for you guys to enjoy. This is for Rashaka and Storybender who gave me some very nice concrit. You'd be surprised how nice it is when people stop demanding updates to give you nice simple tips on your story—but update demands are cool too.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Aunt Wu, if you please?**

**Aunt Wu: I see…I see…a death sentence.**

**Me: Not you too! C'mon, just the disclaimer, please.**

**Aunt Wu: Hmm…nope, you're not going to own A:TLA any time soon.**

**

* * *

Accelerando **

**Acclerando-**accelerating in speed

* * *

"_Dancing from across the room,  
In another life,"  
_Resolve, Foo Fighters

* * *

"Question," said Katara as she and Zuko made their way to the river. "I probably won't put up much of a challenge, wouldn't you rather practise with someone else?" 

Zuko shrugged. "No, you probably wouldn't, I'd beat you within a minute—" Katara glared at him. He smirked and continued. "—But I don't want to spar with Aang as he's the Avatar and will probably use earthbending to beat me."

"But Aang needs practise," she protested.

"But I still haven't seen you bend,"

Katara frowned. "Yeah, you have! Plenty of times! At the North Pole and all those other times, mind you, I beat you at the North Pole, how can you say you'd beat me in a minute?"

"I've had more practice since then," replied Zuko.

"So have I,"

"Well you said it yourself, you won't put up much of a challenge!" said Zuko.

Katara glared at him again. "I take it back then,"

Zuko scoffed. "You're not going to win,"

"How do know that?" asked Katara with a smirk.

Zuko stared at her. "Are you questioning my bending experience?"

"Maybe I am,"

"Do you honestly think you can win against me?" asked Zuko, snorting. "You, a Waterbending peasant, win against me, a FireNation_ Prince_?"

"I've beaten you once, haven't I?" snapped the girl. "What makes you think I can't win again? And if you're so sure you'll beat me, why'd you challenge me in the first place, oh 'Mighty Firebending Prince'?"

"Hey, you started this conversation in the first place, not me!" retorted Zuko as they reached the bank. "And you're _not_ going to win,"

"Jerk," she spat playfully.

Zuko chuckled. "I try,"

Katara scoffed. "Oh, you are _so _in for it," and with that, she took her place by the river's edge and assumed her battle stance. Zuko did the same and waited for her to start. When she didn't, Zuko stepped forward and began by sending a series of flaming punches towards her.

Katara dodged each one with the grace of a swan on the water, stepping from side to side and spinning to avoid the flames. Bending a large amount of water from the river, she separated it into several balls and froze them, each frozen ball varying in shape. With one fluid motion of her arm, she sent them hurling towards the Fire Prince.

As the spheres of ice were coming at him in no particular order, he wasn't able to dodge them as easily as she did with his fire balls. So, after dodging the first few, he fired as many streams of flames as he could to destroy each sphere. For the ones that he missed, Zuko created a firewall to stop them.

Meanwhile, Katara created a large Water Whip and launched it at him. Zuko managed to see it coming and dodged it before it could hit him.

The two stood, breathing heavily and watching each other for the next moment or two, as if trying to stare the other down, as if trying to get some clue to what the other would do next.

Finally, Zuko moved. He punched the ground spreading flames along it towards the girl, who stepped back to avoid them, but the flames just kept coming. Katara continued to step backwards trying to avoid them, and Zuko smiled maliciously thinking he had got her.

He was wrong.

Katara bent a large amount of water and doused the flames upon the ground. Then bringing her hands to the sides of her mouth, she blew softly onto the water and froze the ground. Bringing the water around Zuko's ankles, she froze his feet to the ground.

Zuko tried to break free of them but could not do so in time to dodge another Water Whip—this one powerful enough to break the ice around his feet and send him to the ground.

She wasn't done yet though. Again, she bent a large amount of water from the river and doused him in it, and once again, froze him to the ground.

Zuko growled in frustration as he summoned the heat needed to melt the ice of him—he summoned too much. With a burst of flames, he broke free from ice that held him down as Katara approached him.

Katara jumped back to avoid the shards of ice as a reflex, but one particularly sharp piece of ice flew past her shoulder and left there a very large gash. She clutched her shoulder in pain and didn't see Zuko coming towards her.

She saw him at the last minute and used another Water Whip to trip him. She succeeded but as Zuko was now on the ground, he kicked out at her legs causing her to fall backwards, and as soon as she had hit the ground, Zuko jumped up and stood over her triumphantly, a conquering grin on his face.

"I win," he said with a smirk.

"This time," she replied coldly.

Zuko smirked again and extended an arm to help her up. Katara took it with her uninjured arm, and once she was up again, examined her shoulder.

"That looks painful," stated Zuko.

Katara bit her lip and answered. "Yeah, it is," She walked towards the water and dipped her hand into it to create the watery glove she used to heal open wounds. She placed it over her injured shoulder and sighed at the cool feeling, and she felt it heal almost instantly.

"That's better," she said as she walked back towards Zuko. There was a sound that sounded like someone stepping on a twig. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Katara strained her ears trying to hear whatever it was that had broken the twig but decided it was her imagination, but part of her brain just wouldn't dismiss the fact that some one may have been watching them.

She shook her head, "Don't worry, can we go back to camp now?"

Zuko smiled and extended his arm towards her to take her hand. "Yeah, let's go,"

* * *

"Men, there is a traitor onboard this ship. Some one has told Princess Azula everything that has happened, and now we have a serious predicament. Whoever it is who has been or is still feeding information to the Princess must be stopped. How? The only reasonable thing I can think of doing is retiring the traitor of his duties and not allowing him to travel on the ship anymore. If you are the traitor, turn yourself in honourably, so that you will not be shamed anymore than you should be," 

Iroh spoke grimly to the crew about the present predicament. How a fool-proof plan could crumble at the actions of just one man who saw it fitting that he should betray Prince Zuko's crew, it was…stunning.

Stunning that someone would betray a crew that had been like family to every man standing in the group before him.

A few of the men looked around them uneasily as if the traitor was standing right next to them, and when nobody said anything, Iroh sighed wearily.

"The traitor refuses to turn himself in? Then until we find out who the traitor is, we cannot continue to follow the Avatar. Everyone should keep their eyes open to anything suspicious, and if you have or find out any information whatsoever on who this traitor is, then you are to give that information to me right away—that is an order. Dismissed,"

The soldiers grumbled a reply and went back to their duties eyeing each other distrustfully, Jee was one of them, trying hard to keep himself undercover. He knew what he had to do in order to keep himself on the ship so that he could keep passing information to the Princess, but guilt was beginning to take its toll on him.

This really was a lose-lose situation, and there was nothing he could do to get himself out of it. Really, though, he didn't know what he should do. He knew it was his own fault but now, now the situation was _much_ worse.

He had to get himself out of this mess somehow, and how to do it without getting caught out would need a lot of careful planning.

He approached the retired General and asked, "Sir, shouldn't some one warn Prince Zuko?"

"Yes they should, Jee," replied Iroh, "but the only person who can leave this ship to tell the Avatar and Prince Zuko what has happened is me, but in this situation, I cannot leave the ship in case the traitor sends more information to the Princess, at least here I can keep a closer eye on every one on the ship,"

"Sir, I could go and—"

"No, Jee, I think it is best that _no one _on this ship go anywhere near the Avatar for the while, or at least until we find out who's been passing information to the Princess,"

"But Sir, the Prince should be—"

"No, Jee, that's final,"

* * *

Aang returned to the campsite earlier than he had expected. Katara had been _so _close to catching him out. 

"So, Aang, what happened?" asked Sokka when he saw him.

Aang shrugged. "Nothing, they just practised, Zuko won, and they're on their way back now. Katara heard something and I thought it was me, so I left as soon as I could,"

"Then how do you know they're on their way back?"

"They were coming towards me, I'm pretty sure they're coming back,"

Sokka scrutinized Aang carefully. "You're over it already?"

"Huh?" asked Aang looking thoroughly confused at the random question.

"You're over the fact that Katara chose Zuko over you?"

"Sokka, I knew I couldn't be with her anyway, I'm the Avatar and I'm a monk, I'm not allowed any serious relationships. I just needed sometime to get over the fact," said Aang with another shrug.

Sokka nodded slowly. "Wait, if you knew you couldn't be with her anyway, why'd you freak out?"

Aang thought for a moment, then he said, "I dunno,"

"Okay…"

* * *

"_Aang_…_Aang…_" 

Aang looked around him. He was surrounded by a swirling white mist and by the feel of things, he was on top of a very high mountain in the Petolas. That's funny. Wasn't he in a clearing in the middle of the forest before? That's where he went to sleep…

"_Aang…_"

Wait, he knew that voice…

"_Avatar Roku?_" he called.

A figure formed in front of him, tall and old, he knew he was right. This…_place_…was the same place he was in last time when he spoke to Avatar Roku—his past self wanted to speak to him again.

"_Aang,_" said the elder, "_it's good to see you, I see that Prince Zuko has finally figured out which side he's supposed to be on,_"

Aang blinked and bowed respectfully as something else swirled into view. It was a small circular screen which showed their campsite, Sokka snoring loudly in his sleeping bag, Katara curled up in her sleeping bag next to the fire, and Zuko leaning against his tree with a blanket around his shoulders.

Aang straightened up again and looked at his past self. "_Avatar Roku,_" he greeted politely, his voice echoed around him. "_Is there something wrong?_"

Roku sighed wearily and answered. "_I'm afraid there is Aang, firstly, there is a traitor in Zuko's crew, they've been passing information to Princess Azula of the Fire Nation and now she knows everything that has happened, secondly, you need to start gathering more troops and head for the Fire Nation,_"

Aang blinked again. "_What? Why?_"

"_The Fire Nation is getting stronger, Aang, you have to stop them before it's too late,_"

Aang shook his head. "_We can't head to the Fire Nation just yet! I haven't even been able to completely master fire!_"

"_You've mastered it enough, but you must leave and start gathering troops in the morning ,might I suggest finding the water tribe siblings' father, he is in the Earth Nation at the moment, but the Final Battle must take place in the Fire Nation,_"

"_What Final Battle?_"

"_It's coming, Aang, you must destroy it so no one can harness its power again, you must leave in the morning,_"

The mist started to swirl around again, "_Avatar Roku! Wait! What are you talking about?_" But it was too late. Aang was awake now, the conversation he had just had with the previous Avatar had happened in his sleep, but it was no dream—it was real, all of it.

"Aang? Are you okay?"

Aang jumped. Katara was awake too.

"You were mumbling things in your sleep, is everything okay?"

Aang took in a huge a gulp of air trying to breathe normally again. "Katara," he choked. "It's coming, Souzen's Comet is coming,"

**Dun, dun, dun! Let the Final Battle begin! Oh, and sorry for the screwy sparring scene—I suck at action, which is probably going to cause a problem when I write the next few chapters, but I'll work extra hard on it for you guys.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	20. First Time Bar: Alla Marcia

**Hey Guys!**

**I'll get in one more update for you! The last two chapters were slightly screwed up, but I'm glad you liked them anyway. This one's for my good friend, Sweetstories11, who felt depressed that she hadn't read any fanfiction within a week.**

**Hope this makes you feel better, Monika!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Zhao?**

**Zhao: If JJ owned Avatar, I wouldn't be dead.**

**Me: Yeah, you would! Everyone (me included) hates you!**

**Zhao: But I can blackmail you!**

**Me: Right…**

**

* * *

First Time Bar: Alla Marcia**

**First Time Bar**-Sometimes the end of a repeated section can be altered. The first time bar is the way that you play it the first time, when you repeat, you skip the first time bar and go straight to the second time bar.**  
Alla Marcia**- In the style of a march

* * *

"_Summer has come to pass,  
__The innocent can never last,  
__Wake me up, when September ends,"  
_Wake Me Up, When September Ends, Greenday

* * *

"What do you mean its coming?"

"How do you know?"

"We have to gather troops for a 'Final Battle'?"

Aang clutched his head and shut his tightly as a wave of confusion washed over him. Everything was happening too quickly—Souzen's Comet was coming, they had to leave in the morning to gather troops for a final battle, and Avatar Roku had just told him all of this in a dream so he didn't know whether it was really real or not.

He heard Katara tell the two older boys to back off and give him some room, then he felt someone kneel down beside him and place a cool hand on his shoulder.

"Aang, explain to us slowly and clearly what's happened,"

Aang opened his eyes and looked at the three teenagers crowded around him. He took in a huge gulp of air and began.

"Souzen's Comet is coming, Avatar Roku just told me in a dream,"

Sokka opened his mouth to interrupt but Katara held up a hand to silence him. She nodded for Aang to continue.

"He said that Souzen's Comet was coming and that we have to start gathering troops and then go to the Fire Nation for the 'Final Battle', he suggested that we find your  
father," he gestured at the two water tribe siblings.

"Find Dad?" asked Sokka ignoring Katara's glare.

Aang nodded. "Avatar Roku said that he, your father, is in the Earth Nation at the moment, probably with Bato,"

Sokka stared at him and nodded. "Anything else?" he asked after a small pause.

Slowly, Aang nodded. "Yeah, he said that I had to destroy the comet so that no one could harness its power again,"

Katara gaped at him. "You can't destroy the comet! You'll be killed!"

Aang shook his head. "Katara, I have to, I'll be fine, but we have to leave in the morning to find your father,"

"How're we supposed to find him?" asked Sokka, "We have no idea where he is,"

Aang thought on this for a moment. "Do you still remember what it said on the message that Bato was supposed to get?"

Sokka nodded.

"We'll follow those directions first, we'll start searching east if they're not there,"

"How long do we have?" asked Zuko.

Aang shrugged. "Two weeks maybe?"

"That's not enough time!" said Zuko. "There's no way we'll be able to gather enough troops by the time the comet arrives!"

"And Zuko," said Aang grimly, just remembering what else Avatar Roku had said. "There's a traitor onboard your ship—your sister knows everything now,"

Zuko blinked. "Zula knows what's happened?"

Aang nodded gloomily.

Zuko felt his hands heating up in anger. He had been betrayed. One of his soldiers had sold him out. And now his sister knew everything. Flames must have been growing at his wrists as Katara stood up from her spot next to Aang to calm him down.

"Zuko, calm down!" she said. "There's nothing we can do now, we'll just have to tell your Uncle to head for the Fire Nation and wait for us there,"

"Katara, someone just—"

"There's nothing we can do," said Katara. "Calm down, please, now's the worst time to freak out,"

Zuko growled in frustration but thankfully, he gave a short nod. Katara gave him a small peck on the cheek to help calm him down more (Sokka shot a glare at Zuko before turning back to Aang and pretending to puke in disgust).

"How're we going to find enough people?" asked Katara turning back to Aang.

Aang didn't answer right away. Finally, he said, "You remember Suki? And Haru? And King Bumi?"

Sokka and Katara nodded.

"We'll find them, see if they can help recruit more people. King Bumi'll have plenty of soldiers in Omashu that can help us,"

The Water Tribe siblings nodded again.

"Right," said Zuko, still trying to calm down. "I'll head back to the ship and tell Uncle what's happening, tell him to head for the Fire Nation, stay here and start packing so we can leave as soon as I get back,"

"I'll go with you," said Katara. "Make sure you don't fry anything or set the forest on fire on the way,"

Sokka shot another death glare at Zuko. The Fire Prince sneered and turned his back on him and took Katara's hand.

"We'll be back as soon as we can,"

* * *

Zuko pounded on the iron door that was the door to Iroh's room.

"Uncle!" he called. "Uncle, get up! This is urgent!"

Katara caught his arm before he could pound on the door again. "Shh!" she hissed. "You'll wake the entire ship!"

"How else am I supposed to wake up an old man?" He snatched his arm out of the Waterbender's grip and tried to pound on the door again, but it opened before he could o so.

"Prince Zuko? Shouldn't you be with the Avatar? What's miss Katara doing here as well?" asked the old man sleepily.

"Uncle, we need to speak with you, it's urgent,"

Iroh studied the two carefully before he asked, "Am I going to get great nephews and nieces?"

Katara buried her face in her hands and Zuko pounded on the wall next to the door.

"Uncle! Now is NOT the time!" he growled.

Iroh chuckled. "Kidding, kidding," He stepped to the side to let the two teenagers into the room. Once the door was shut, he tuned to them and asked them what was going on.

"There's a traitor onboard this ship," said Zuko curtly.

Iroh nodded grimly. "I would have come and told you but I just found out earlier today and I thought it wiser to not leave the ship so I could keep a closer eye on the crew,"

Katara could sense Zuko becoming extremely angry with what had happened. She stood up and motioned for Zuko to sit where she had been sitting—she really didn't want Zuko to blow up the ship all out of fury.

"General—"

"Uncle,"

"Uncle Iroh, then," said Katara. "Let me explain, Souzen's Comet is coming in two weeks, and as there is a traitor onboard the ship, we think it best for you and the crew to head straight for the Fire Nation and meet us there. We would head straight there ourselves, but we have to go find me and Sokka's father and some other Earth Nation soldiers,"

Iroh blinked. "Souzen's Comet? Is coming? How did—"

"Avatar Roku came to Aang in a dream earlier tonight and told him everything," answered Katara before Iroh could finish.

"So—"

"Uncle, just head straight to the Fire Nation, we'll meet you there," said Zuko, standing up.

"But—"

"Head for the Fire Nation, we'll meet you there," said Zuko firmly. "That's final, we'll meet you at the Fire Nation Capital. Send us a messenger hawk when you get there, we'll send a messenger hawk to you when we find Katara's father,"

Iroh looked stunned. After a moment, he nodded mutely.

"Good," said Zuko with a short nod. "We'll head back to Aang and Sokka now, we're leaving to find Katara's father as soon as we can,"

He walked to the door and wrenched it open. Katara bowed to the old man politely before following Zuko.

Unbeknownst to the two teenagers, Iroh wasn't the only one listening to the story…

* * *

Katara and Zuko arrived back at camp just as Aang and Sokka finished packing. Sokka doused out the fire with water from a small bowl as Aang packed the last of the bags and tied them securely on Appa's saddle.

"Iroh and the rest of the crew are heading straight to the Fire Nation," said Katara as they approached. "Everything's sorted, we can go find Dad now,"

Aang nodded as he climbed onto Appa's head and woke the bison. Appa yawned widely before getting up slowly and shaking his shaggy head.

"Appa, buddy, we need you to fly us to through the Earth Kingdom so we can find Katara and Sokka's dad, 'kay?"

Appa grunted and Aang took this as a yes. "Thanks, buddy,"

"We should go," said Sokka. "Zuko, no puking on Appa's fur,"

"Shut up, Sokka," snapped Zuko giving him a glare.

Sokka smirked.

"Now's not the time, you two," snapped Katara as she walked up Appa's tail and onto the saddle. "Let's go,"

Both boys shot glares a each other before clambering up the giant bison's tail.

"Appa, yip yip!"

* * *

The ride on Appa wasn't a peaceful one though it should have been. Upon arriving at a small camp at Bah Sing Se a day and a half later, the foursome jumped off Appa, thankful to be on solid ground again.

It felt odd to be walking on the ground again, but it felt better than sitting on a saddle on top of a flying bison more than a hundred feet in the air.

Appa needed a rest anyway.

As they asked the Earth Nation soldier at the camp for a place to stay, a strangely familiar blue clad figure approached them, It took a full minute for Sokka, Aang and Katara to realise who it was.

"What are you kids doing here? And why are you travelling in the company of a Fire Nation soldier?"

"Bato! It's so good to see you!"

**There you go, hoped you liked that one. You'll have to wait 'till next week to see what happens, 'kay? Hope that's not a problem but I've already stretche the limit of two updates per week.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	21. Second Time Bar: Tutti

**Hi Guys!**

**I'm so very, very sorry I made you wait that long, but the government decided that Year Nines (First year high school…freshman year, right?) have to do PAT's (random tests that the government set to see how smart the students are—at least that's my theory).**

**Anyway, this chapter is Seya492, my 300th reviewer. I actually didn't expect to get this far. I expected, like, 150, not this many…**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: hmm………Zula!**

**Zula: What makes you think I'm going to do something for you?**

**Me: 'Cuz if you don't, you'll die in this fic.**

**Zula: Damn you! Jellyjay doesn't own anything.**

**

* * *

Second Time Bar: Tutti**

**Tutti-**All together

* * *

"_Like my father's come to pass,__  
Seven years has gone so fast,__  
Wake me up, when September ends,"_  
Wake Me Up, When September Ends, Greenday

* * *

"Let me get this straight," said Bato sitting cross-legged in a large Earth Nation tent and staring at the three teenagers in utter confusion. Aang had gone to explain the situation to the Earth Nation Generals, and he, Bato, _really _didn't want to trust any Fire Nation soldiers, let alone the Fire Nation _Prince_, but according to Katara, Sokka and Aang, he's a good guy. He found this rather hard to believe.

"He's a good guy," he said, gesturing at Zuko who was leaning on one of the poles uncomfortably, "and you three are supposed to be looking for more troops for a 'Final Battle' in the Fire Nation? And you're supposed to be looking for your father?"

The water tribe siblings nodded. Katara looked over to Zuko and gestured for him to come and sit down. He shook his head.

Katara sighed and stood to try and talk him into sitting down. Once Sokka thought she wasn't listening, he whispered to Bato, "Bato, I think you should know, Zuko's nearing marrying age,"

Bato blinked. "So?"

Sokka stared at him. "You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"

The older water tribe warrior thought about this for a while. "Of course I know what you're—Katara?"

"What? She likes him, he likes her—he wants her to be happy, like me and Aang, except that he wants her affections too,"

"And you don't care?" snapped Bato. "She's your sister! Why are you not playing the overprotective big brother you are?"

"Oh don't worry, if he does anything, you and Aang and Dad are going to help me murder him—Firelord or not,"

"Is that supposed to make me calm down?" asked Bato.

Before Sokka could answer, Katara walked over to the two warriors muttering something under her breath—it sounded suspiciously like "Stubborn Fire Nation idiot," She turned to Bato and asked, "So have you had any news from our Dad?"

"First of all, what in the world possessed you to like _him_?" asked Bato disbelievingly. What Sokka had just told him was not sinking in. How could his good friend's daughter who was so much like a niece to him fall for the Fire Nation Prince?

Katara blinked before rounding on Sokka. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing," said Sokka hiding a smirk. "Just the facts he needed to know,"

"Did these 'facts' include any sort of relationship between me and Zuko?" she hissed through gritted teeth.

"Uhh…maybe…" said Sokka smirking.

Katara opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. She wanted _so _bad to kill Sokka right there on the spot, but she held back.

She took in a breath to calm herself. "You know what, forget it, if we survive this war, we'll explain, right now, forget it, now's not the time,"

Sokka sniggered at the blush on the flustered girl's face and raised an eyebrow at Bato wearing a face that said, 'I told you so,'

Regaining her composure and acting as if Sokka hadn't said anything, Katara asked again, "So has there been any news from Dad?"

Bato still could not believe what he had heard but he shook it off hoping it was just a joke. He turned to Katara. "Your father's here,"

The water tribe siblings blinked. "Dad's here? At this camp? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Because you were busy explaining to me why you were travelling with the Fire Nation Prince and what you're doing here," answered Bato. "He should be back soon, actually,"

There was the sound of swishing canvas and just a quick draft of air followed by a voice that Katara and Sokka had not heard for more than two years.

"Katara? Sokka? Is that you?"

"Look at that, he's early,"

"DAD!"

The two teenagers rushed towards their father. Katara flung herself into her father's arms whilst Sokka waited his turn.

"Bato, you're right, they're tall now," said Hakoda over his daughter's shoulder. He pried Katara off him and studied her proudly. "You've grown," he said with a smile.

Katara grinned back. "Dad, it's so good to see you again! We've missed you!" She gave him another hug before stepping back to let Sokka greet their father too.

Sokka grinned at his father and gave him a quick hug. Hakoda clapped his shoulder in his usual fatherly way and grinned back. "It's been a while, kids, it's good to see you two again," he said. "How's your grandmother?"

"She was great when we left," said Katara. "The village was getting along fine, we would have stayed like you asked us to but we couldn't…"

"Bato's told me," said Hakoda. "You found Aang, the Avatar, correct?"

The two teenagers nodded.

Hakoda grinned at the two again. "I'm proud of you two," he said. "Bato says you've done much for the world, by helping the Avatar with his journey. What are you doing here of all places?"

The smiles on Katara and Sokka's faces faded a little. "Dad, as urgent as it is, could we please just spend at least ten minutes catching up?" asked Sokka. "Just ten minutes?"

Hakoda smiled and nodded.

Bato left the tent, not wanting to spoil the family reunion, whilst Zuko stood unnoticed in the corner of the tent. He watched enviously as the two siblings reunited with their father. He wished more than anything that his own father loved him the way theirs did them, but he knew for a fact that that was never going to happen. Not now that he'd betrayed his country.

He cast a glance at the girl who was now so cheerful that she was with her father again and at her brother who was equally as happy. Their father stood, looking down at them proudly, listening to every word that they were saying.

Zuko sighed grimly and left the tent leaving the reunited family in peace.

* * *

Aang left the General's tent after explaining the situation several times to the disbelieving General.

"Is that hard to understand?" he muttered angrily under his breath as he exited the tent, not paying attention to his surroundings. This was stressful, how the Avatars before him coped with attending so many meetings and explaining the same thing more than once without going insane, he didn't know. What he did know was that if every soldier he came to acted the way the general did, than he wouldn't be able to stop the comet.

Speaking of which, they needed to leave soon. They still had three stops before the Fire Nation, but Appa still hadn't had a long enough rest.

Massaging his temples in thought, Aang made up his mind—they'd leave in the morning when Appa was in a better condition. It would give Katara and Sokka enough time to catch up with Bato, and maybe even their father if by any chance he was here.

* * *

Zuko ambled over to Appa after at least twenty minutes of aimless wandering. Being the Fire Nation Prince, he got glances from almost everyone at the camp—from the evils to just plain curious looks.

Though he knew it was childish, Zuko felt envious of the two water tribe siblings. For Agni's sake, even the twelve year old Avatar wasn't left out like he was. He sighed heavily and sat down next to the flying bison.

Momo watched the Fire Prince curiously, tilting his head to one side and forgetting about the leechi nut in his paws.

"What?" snapped Zuko irritably as he noticed Momo.

Momo looked back at his leechi nut and then back at Zuko. He dropped it and bounded over to Zuko and hopped into the Fire Prince's lap.

Zuko blinked, torn between astonishment and disgust. He appreciated the lemur's concern, but…it was a _lemur_. A _lemur _of all things was offering him sympathy! Had he not been so irritable, he would have laughed head off.

"Zuko? Why'd you leave? You didn't need to,"

Zuko jumped. Katara stood over him, a smile on her face. "Oh," he said rather curtly. "Hello,"

"Come," she said extending a hand to him. "You looked left out earlier, come meet our dad. Aang came in a second ago, we have to leave for Omashu tomorrow morning, make the most of the time we have here,"

Zuko shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, but no, don't let me spoil your reunion,"

Katara blinked. "Please? Come on, Zuko, we told dad about you—how you joined us, returned my necklace and taught Aang Firebending and…" she paused, she could feel her ears burning, "and…uhh…Sokka kinda went overboard with details…"

Zuko scoffed.

"Come and meet dad, Zuko, please?"

Zuko sighed. He couldn't resist those pleading, deep-blue eyes, and so, he let the girl pull him up to a standing position and let her lead the way to the tent

* * *

Zuko's meeting with the water tribe siblings' father went well—except for the fact that the 'details' Sokka had told Hakoda were about his—Zuko's, and Katara's relationship. Zuko now had three men and the Avatar on his tail if he didn't treat Katara right.

The introduction involved a lot of questions—most of them about Katara's well-being, but by the end of the day, Hakoda knew him fairly well.

The night came and went and the next morning arrived too soon. Reluctantly, Sokka and Katara bade their good-byes and hopped onto Appa for another half day of flying. They'd already lost three days, they couldn't afford to lose anymore as the journey to the Fire Nation would take up at least a week travelling from their last stop—Kyoshi.

Arriving in Omashu in the late afternoon of that same day, Aang was the only one who entered the city to tell King Bumi about the situation.

Bumi, being the crazy king that he was and being a good friend of Aang, immediately gathered troops and passed the news onto them. They would be leaving for the Fire Nation almost immediately.

Bumi had everything under control, so Aang rushed back to the three teenagers waiting with Appa so that they could leave and head for Haru's village.

Upon arriving the next morning, Katara rushed into the village and headed straight for Haru's cottage. His mother greeted her warmly and told her that Haru and his father were at the mines. She hurried off sought out the pair when she arrived at the mines.

She explained quickly what was happening and the two nodded. They would find the other Earthbenders she had helped set free and would set off for the Fire Nation as soon as they could.

After a few hugs and a quick good-bye, Katara returned to Appa and the boys, thoroughly exhausted from running through the village.

The foursome arrived at Kyoshi Island a day later. Knowing that the Kyoshi warriors wouldn't trust Zuko straight away (he had, after all attacked their village because Aang was there), Sokka went to tell them of their arrival.

After much persuasion from Sokka, the Kyoshi warriors reluctantly let them spend the night on the island in the village. Sokka sent most of the time with Suki trying to convince her to help them.

Finally, she agreed. Sokka let a breath of relief escape him, and he was able to rest easily that night.

Zuko sent a messenger hawk to Iroh each time they'd managed to get more help.

Earthbenders, Earth Nation troops, Waterbenders and warriors and the small handful of Firebenders that was Zuko's were all heading towards the Fire Nation Capital. This war was going to be one of the most brutal wars in history.

But brutal or not, it was time for it to end.

**Shorter than you expected, I know, but I'm getting stressed here! These chapters are tough to write! I wouldn't be surprised if you guys think this chapter turned out crap! Nevertheless, I have to say—Let the war begin...**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	22. Battaglia

**Hey guys! **

**How's it going? I'm glad most of you guys liked the previous chapter but I'm slaso glad that some of you agreed with me—I thought it was pretty crap, I suck at stuff like this. This chap'll probably be crap too, so please feel free to let me know that you agree with me--But, do let me know if you think otherwise.**

**Right, this is for my sister who gave me another idea on how to ruin perfect moments. Thanks, Pat, but I'm getting annoyed at myself now.**

**Enjoy! (I hope…)**

**Disclaimer: Bato!**

**Bato: Jellyjay owns nothing. Even the tactic that Aang uses is a strategy n a game that they play at her school.**

**Me: That's enough Bato.**

**

* * *

Battaglia**

**Battaglia-** A piece suggesting a battle

* * *

"_At the end of the world  
Or the last thing I see,  
You are  
Never coming home,  
Never coming home,"_  
Ghost of you, My Chemical Romance

* * *

The sun was close to rising when Zuko's face tightened as the Fire Nation came into view. Below them, hundreds, maybe tens of hundreds of Earth Nation ships all travelled in the same direction—towards its shores.

Zuko stared grimly at them from Appa's saddle. For most of the soldiers they had recruited, it would be the last they would ever see. Most would die honourable deaths, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. It was his nation that they would die at the hands of, it was he who helped recruit them, took them away from their families whom they would probably never see again.

And it was all because his country was insanely greedy.

He gripped the side of Appa's saddle tightly, his nails digging into the leather as he watched the ships below. His Uncle had already managed to get into the Fire Nation, he knew that from a messenger hawk he had sent, but he wondered vaguely how he had managed to get in, as Iroh was considered a traitor.

Zuko glanced over at the other three who were sleeping surprisingly peacefully as more depressing thoughts ran through his head. Here they were, three teenagers who, after a short amount of time, began to trust him and accept him for who he was, even though he was Fire Nation—one of them had gone even further than just friendship.

He looked back at the waters below and began to watch the ships again.

"Zuko?"

"There's a few more hours till dawn, go back to sleep, 'Tara,"

"Stop calling me that," she said with a scowl. "It bugs me, and I like my real name better,"

Zuko turned to look at her and smiled softly despite himself. Katara smiled back and crawled towards him. She looked down at the Earth Nation ships sailing below them as a comfortable silence grew between them.

"Are you worried?" asked Katara quietly after a moment.

"About what?"

"Zuko, we're heading towards the Fire Nation to end a hundred year war. We're there to stop your father from taking over the world, how can you ask that?" she said incredulously.

Zuko shrugged. "Well, I don't know, I guess I am, the number of Earth Nation troops we're dragging with us, most of them won't even last that long…and I guess I'm worried about my Uncle as well,"

Katara smiled grimly at him. She knew how he felt. There were so many old friends in those ships below. So many friends that she could lose. Her father was down there too, and her brother and best friend were in just as much danger as everyone else. And there was Zuko…she didn't really know what to think of him.

"What about you?" asked Zuko after another moment's silence.

Katara thought for a moment. "I'm scared, Zuko," she answered quietly, "of what'll happen to dad, Sokka, Aang and the number of other innocent people down there. There are so many of our old friends down there ready to fight with Aang, I'm worried about them all, and…and I'm scared of what'll happen to you,"

She scoffed after a second. "You probably think I'm such a baby right now, being scared and everything…"

Zuko blinked. He raised a hand and caressed her cheek softly. "No, I don't, it's okay to be scared 'Tara, there's nothing wrong with it, this is a war we're fighting, no one in there right mind wouldn't be,"

"Zuko?" said Katara quietly, breaking another silence.

"Mm?"

"Promise me that nothing will happen to you in this war, promise you'll still be here when it's all over,"

Zuko stared at the girl for a second trying to register what she'd just said. He leant forward and kissed her on the lips lightly. "I promise if you do the same," he said in a whisper, his forehead leaning against hers.

Katara smiled softly and kissed him back. "I promise," she said in the gap in which they took a breath.

Zuko lifted a hand and placed it on the back of her neck, sliding his tongue against her bottom lip, begging for entrance. Katara shivered and gladly let him in, her arms circling his neck. She moaned quietly against his mouth, savouring the taste of his warm, dry lips against hers.

Everything in that moment was just so _good_, until Appa jerked to the side causing the two to break apart ruining their perfect moment. Sokka and Aang woke with a start as the bison swerved to the side to avoid a speeding fireball.

"Wha' happened?" muttered Sokka sleepily

"Wake up, Sokka! Now's not the time to play stupid!" snapped Katara.

Sokka grumbled angrily as Aang called to them from Appa's head. "There's a blockade ahead! There's no way we can avoid them! Sokka! Take the reigns!"

Sokka moved to the front of the saddle and climbed over it onto Appa's head.

"Zuko, Katara! I need your help!" said Aang. "Zuko, I need you to try and slow those stinkers down—"

"How do I do that?" asked Zuko.

"I don't know! If you can't slow them down, I need you to shrink the fire on them at least, make them less hot," Aang turned to Katara. "You're going to help try and destroy them,"

Katara nodded and Aang rushed off to the edge of the saddle. He bent a massive column of water out of the ocean and separated a large amount from it. He moved his hands and froze it into a giant icicle and sent hurtling towards the fireball. It went right through the centre, destroying it and sending large pieces of debris all over the place.

Katara got the idea and began to follow Aang's example as a deafening explosion was heard from below.

Zuko looked over the side of the saddle and his eyes widened in horror. An Earth Nation ship below them had been hit and now it was nothing more but a burning pile of wood and metal.

Other ships were being defended by several Earth Benders. The fireballs were just boulders after all—boulders came under the category of Earth. Several fireballs were now zooming back to where they came.

_BOOM!_

Another ship had just been hit, but thankfully it was a Fire Nation one.

"Aang, what are you doing!"

Zuko snapped back into reality when he heard Katara's terrified voice. Aang had taken out his glider and jumped off Appa's saddle. He heard an echo of Aang's voice over the noise of explosions.

"I'll be fine, Katara! I've got an idea!"

Zuko looked towards Katara who had the look of absolute shock on her face. He scrambled over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Relax," he said. "Aang knows what he's doing, he'll be fine, right now, you need to concentrate on trying to get us safely to shore,"

Katara took a shaky breath and nodded.

"Good, come on 'Tara, it's only a little further,"

* * *

Aang landed on the nearest Earth Nation ship and hurried to the Captains Coop.

"Avatar!" said the Captain with a bow, "What would you like us to do?"

"Captain," said Aang, "Keep doing what you're doing, but if you can, hold as many fireballs back as you can, once you can't hold anymore, fire them all at the same time with as much force as you can,"

The captain stared at him in confusion. He really couldn't see how holding back as many as they could was going to help, but nevertheless, he nodded.

"You heard him, men! Do what he says!"

Aang flew off again and landed on as many ships as he could, telling them to do the same. By the time Aang had been to ten ships, three others were hit and five had exploded.

But the Fire Nation were losing many more troops. At least fifty Earth Nation ships had held onto the fireballs being fired at them and once there were too many to hold, they fired them straight back. Several Fire Nation ships were sunk as tens of fireballs hurtled back to the ships that originally fired them.

After what seemed like hours (it may have been, too, the sun was up now), almost half the blockade was wiped out and most ships were in Fire Nation territory. Some damaged, some miraculously intact, and though rather depleted in numbers, the ships continued towards Fire Nation shores.

Aang returned to Appa's saddle, exhausted and with a few cuts and bruises, but Katara healed them no problem.

Once in the clear, Sokka climbed back over the saddle to join the others and let out a sigh of relief. "How the hell did we survive that?"

The other three laughed. Not happy laughs, nervous laughs, the type of laugh that comes when at the most inconvenient time—in the middle of a heavy drama play, for example.

This war was heavy drama though, but it everything in it was real. There were actual deaths and such.

"It's not over yet, Sokka," said Aang finally. "We still have to find Iroh, and then finish off this war,"

Sokka heaved a sigh. "How long before we get to the Fire Nation Capital?"

"A few hours," said Zuko with a yawn. "I suggest we spend that time conserving our energy, we'll need it,"

* * *

Aang stood on the top of a high mountain in the Petolas facing his past self once again. He bowed politely as a greeting.

"_Aang, I'm glad you made it on time,_"

Aang blinked. "_What do you mean on time?_"

"_It comes tonight, Aang, the comet arrives tonight_,"

"_Tonight? Avatar Roku, it can't be coming tonight! That doesn't give us enough time—_"

"_You will have enough time, leave General Iroh with instructions, but you must head straight towards the Fire Palace and defeat Fire Lord Ozai before it arrives. Once it has, you must destroy it_,"

Aang stared at the elder in confusion. "_But—_"

"_Hurry Aang, it comes tonight…_"

* * *

"It's coming early?"

Aang nodded. "We have to find your Uncle," he said to Zuko. "After that, we head straight to the Fire Nation Palace to face your father,"

Zuko swore under his breath but nodded. Aang turned to the water tribe siblings. "You two wait and help Iroh control everyone else,"

Though both siblings were older than Aang, they immediately began to complain as if Aang was older than them.

"You expect us to do what you say?"

"What makes you think we're letting you two off without us?"

"I—we _refuse_ to stay here while you two get all the action!"

"You're not coming," said Aang firmly. "Especially you, Katara,"

Katara gaped. "What? Why? I'm not going to stay here! Why is it that I can't come when I'm the one who can heal any one of you?"

"You're. Not. Coming." Said Zuko through gritted teeth.

"Too bad, I am! You can't stop me!"

Zuko sighed. He took her hand and pulled her out of the din and then said to her quietly, "Katara, please, none of us want you dead, you can't come. Too many people care about you,"

"And I'm supposed to stand by and watch you three die because you don't have anyone to heal you? I don't think so," she snapped.

"Katara—"

"Zuko, I want to help. I _can _help. I'm going with you and that's final,"

Zuko sighed. There was no budging her on something like this. Nothing they could say would stop her. "Be careful, Katara," he said finally. "Like I said, none of us want you dead, so please, _please_ be careful,"

Katara let a relieved sigh escape her. "I will be," she said quietly. "After all, we both have a promise to keep,"

**So, was I right? Was it crap? If it was, I promise to work extra hard on the next chapter, which if I do right, you guys will hate me for it anyway. **

**R'n'R**

**JJ **


	23. Crescendo

**Hi Guys!**

**I worked extra hard on this one like I promised to, but now I hate myself. You guys will too, I swear. This is another chapter for my sis, who so kindly drew me an extremely cute Zutara picture—and get this, she drew even though she was Kataang.**

**Enjoy (I hope, oh Lord, you guys are going to kill me!)**

**Disclaimer: I'll do it, everyone's glaring at me, I don't own A:TLA, and if I did, what happens in the end of this chapter won't be in it.**

**

* * *

Crescendo **

**Crescendo-**becoming louder, increasing in volume

* * *

"_I can't forgive myself that I let go,  
__My life is worth no more than yours, I know,"  
_My Only, Goodnight Nurse

* * *

Zuko explained to his Uncle the latest situation. He, Aang, and Katara were going into the Fire Palace to find Fire Lord Ozai. Sokka changed his mind because he wanted to help Hakoda and Bato on the battlefield. 

Iroh shook his head when Zuko finished. "No," he said. "You are not going to find your father because, quite frankly, I don't want you dead. You're not going,"

"How else are we supposed to stop Ozai?" argued Katara.

"And you!" snapped Iroh, rounding on the waterbender, "What makes you think you're going with them?"

"Wait a second, what makes _you_ think that we need your permission to do what we need to do?" retorted Zuko. "Whether you like it or not, we're going, because personally, I don't want my idiot of a father ruling the world,"

Iroh cursed under his breath. He had no come back to that one. This was his nephew, his nephew's 'girlfriend', and the Avatar that were going to face the most evil man on the planet. It was Aang's duty to defeat the Fire Lord, and as his nephew was the Fire Lord's son, it was his duty as well. And it was just his and his nephew's luck that the waterbender was just as stubborn as Zuko was.

"I'm going with you," said Iroh finally.

Zuko shook his head. "No, stay back and organise everyone,"

"Right," replied Iroh. "And _then _I'll follow you,"

"Great! Thanks, Iroh, we'll need all help we can get," piped Aang, who had been silent for most of the conversation.

Iroh grinned at the young Avatar and clapped both him and Zuko on the shoulders in a fatherly manner. He gave Katara a quick hug and then smiled at the three—a grim smile, but a proud one, nevertheless.

"Good luck, you three, you'll need it. And be careful. Now go, you have a world to save,"

* * *

The Palace grounds were deserted. Not a huge surprise, really—there was a rebellion on their way to the Fire Capital, and after the attack on the blockade, it was typical that most of the soldiers in the palace would be sent to join the army, but Zuko knew that the Fire Lord wasn't stupid enough to make everyone leave the Palace without him being protected. 

There was a catch to this, he knew it.

"Zuko, you know where we're going, lead the way," said Aang quietly.

Zuko nodded. He turned away from the wall they were hiding behind and leant upon it so he could face the other two. "Listen," he said. "We don't have much time, by now all the ships should have arrived and Uncle should have informed the troops on the battle plans. Knowing Uncle, it'll be some sort of ambush, and he'll probably take the fight all the way here.

"Now, my father's not an idiot, and Zula would have told him everything by now, so what we're about to do involves a lot of sneaky work. My father will be in the throne room surrounded by his best Fire Benders ready for any sort of attack. The only way we can get to him is by eliminating all his protection one by one—like a ghost hunting them down. Be as quiet and as swift as you can, alright?"

Aang and Katara nodded.

"Let's go,"

Zuko turned around and moved swiftly to a large drain underneath a small window in the Palace wall. Quietly as he could, he slipped through the bars followed by Katara and Aang.

For what seemed like hours, Katara and Aang simply followed Zuko through the large, tunnel-like pipes, grime smudging onto their clothes and hands as they crept soundlessly through the tunnels.

Finally, they emerged in an empty hallway, lit torches lining the walls with large vases of water lined against the wall every few metres—probably in case the tapestries that hung on the wall caught fire.

"This way," said Zuko quietly. He climbed out of the drain and pulled the other two out. They crept towards the wall and Aang peered around the corner to check that it was clear.

It wasn't. Firebenders were stationed on either side of the next hallway making it impossible to get to the throne room without getting third degree burns first.

"We need some kind of distraction," muttered Aang.

_BOOM!_

"What was that?"

"Don't just stand there, men! See to it!"

Katara couldn't help but snigger, in spite of herself. She shouldn't really, a major battle had just begun outside the Palace, but the timing was just so miraculous it was funny. "Good enough for you?" she said, trying to stifle the last of her giggles.

"Stop it, 'Tara, this is serious!" hissed Zuko.

"Sorry…" she said sheepishly. "Let's go,"

"Well if it isn't my dearest brother," sneered a voice from behind the three.

Zuko swore under his breath. Not her, not _now_. "Azula, sister, dear," said Zuko through gritted teeth. "It's been a long time,"

"Two years," said Azula, her voice dripping with venom. "Whatever gave you the idea to turn your back on your country?" she asked mockingly.

"Something that most people call a conscience," snapped Zuko, his hands were balled tightly into fists. "Wait, you'd never know what a conscience is, would you? You've never had one,"

Azula scoffed. "Oh please, you think that that little _kid_ can save the world? And what's more brother, you've fallen in love with a waterbender—the one behind you, correct? And I thought you could sink no lower,"

Katara felt herself heating up at the back of her neck. She pushed in front of the two boys in front of her and said, "Zuko, Aang, go,"

Zuko and Aang stared at her while Azula looked slightly stunned.

"Have you gone insane?" asked Zuko in amazement. "My sister's a Firebending prodigy! You won't stand a chance against her—you barely stand a chance against me!"

"Katara, don't do this," said Aang slowly, shock and worry etched in his every word.

"Go," she repeated more firmly.

"We're not going to—"

"Go! Leave me and it's only one life, stay and it's the rest of the world! You have a world to save, just go!"

Azula snapped out of her shock and began to laugh hysterically. "You, a stupid water tribe peasant," she choked through tears of laughter, "think you can beat _me_?"

Katara felt herself burning up in anger. "Go, Zuko, I'll be fine,"

Zuko looked from the girl before him to his laughing sister and back again. "Katara…"

"Go." She repeated. "You have a world to save,"

Zuko ground his teeth at the stubborn attitude of the girl before him, but he calmed as the said girl turned around and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Go," she said once more. "I'll be fine,"

Zuko sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Be careful, alright?"

Katara nodded as Zuko turned and left, Aang following him looking back at her anxiously. Taking in a huge breath, she steeled herself for the events that would follow and turned to face the Fire Princess.

Azula eyed her disgustedly. "How the hell could my brother fall for _you_?" she sneered. "A _peasant _and a _waterbender _at that. How did you do it?"

"How did I do what?" spat Katara.

"How did you manage to get my brother to fall in love with you? You're just a stupid water tribe peasant from a nameless tribe in the South Pole, how did you do it?" Azula didn't give her time to answer, she immediately began to throw several balls of fire at the water tribe girl.

Katara dodged them all as best she could and then summoned a water whip from a nearby vase and sent it speeding towards the Fire Nation Princess.

Azula dodged it with ease and then fired a stream of flames towards Katara, who used a water shield to block them.

"Tell me," said Azula, at the same time kicking out more streams of flames. "Did my brother ever figure it out?"

Katara, now beginning to tire, continued to dodge each stream to the best of her abilities as she answered. "Figure out what?" she snapped.

Azula smirked. "Well I guess there's no point in not telling you, Zuko will never see you alive again anyway,"

Katara growled as she stood exhausted at the other end of the hall waiting for Azula's next attack.

"Zuko's banishment was planned. All of it. My brother's an idiot and he was the heir to the Fire Nation throne," began Azula, playing with a flame in her hand. "If he took the throne, the entire Fire Nation Empire would crumble. I wasn't going to let that happen, and neither was Zhao,"

"What's this got to do with anything?" spat Katara.

Azula threw the ball of flames in her hand at her and then kicked a wave of flames on the ground. Katara dodged the ball and tried to douse the flames on the ground but they were too fast. The force of the flames caused her to fall backwards onto her back, and Azula walked and stood over her, a malicious grin on her face.

"You don't get it, do you?" she said, almost laughing. "Zhao told the general about the plan to use the forty-first division as bait. I asked Zuko to go into the War Chamber that day knowing he would speak out at a plan so evil. Zhao convinced my idiot of an Uncle to let Zuko into the War Chamber. Everything to get Zuko banished was planned by me, and 'good-old' Admiral Zhao,"

Katara stared at the Princess incredulously. "You planned _everything_? You wanted your brother kicked out of the Fire Nation just so he wouldn't be the heir to the throne? From the forty-first division to the scar on his face, _you planned everything_?"

Azula smirked. "Oh no," she said. "The scar on his face was a bonus, we didn't plan that…and I suppose you're wondering who it was that betrayed Zuko's crew? It was Jee, you bumped into him when you were at that Earth Kingdom market, you remember?"

At the Azula's tone, Katara snapped. She kicked out under Azula causing her to fall back and then summoning all the strength she had left, sent a series of water whips towards the fallen Princess.

Azula's eyes widened in horror at the Waterbender's rage and tried to dodge each water whip that was zooming towards her. The last one hit its target and the force threw Azula against the wall.

"Your brother did nothing to deserve what you planned!" Katara hissed. "You're just a stupid, spoilt, stuck-up selfish idiot of a Princess! If anyone deserves to be banished, it should be you!"

Katara doused the Princess in water and tried to freeze her to the wall, but Azula was too fast.

Azula evaporated the water within in an instant and then attacked Katara with another wave of flames with as much force as she could. Katara was thrown against the other side of the hall, bumping the back of her head badly on wall. She collapsed to her knees and clutched the back of her head in pain. There was something warm and sticky oozing from it and having a look at her hand she realized it was blood.

"You bitch," muttered Azula. "You think you can beat me? Stupid waterbender, and my brother deserved what he got two years ago—he had no honour whatsoever,"

Katara glared at her. "Your brother," she hissed, "has more honour than you'll ever have,"

Then, quite suddenly and however random it could be described, the triumphant look on Azula's face disappeared and was replaced by a look of utter shock and pain, and then she collapsed.

"Iroh!"

Iroh smiled grimly and stumbled forward, obviously hurt.

Katara ran forward and caught him before he fell forward and she could see why he was in pain. There was an arrow lodged in his back—he'd been shot on the way to the Palace.

"Iroh! What happened, hang on, let me heal you,"

But Iroh took her hand and stopped. He shook his head. "No Katara, save your energy, you'll need it,"

"But you're hurt!" she argued.

"Katara," said the old man weakly. "I am old, my life is not as important, you must go, find Zuko and apologise to him for me, I will not be able to make it,"

"Oh gods, Iroh, please, let me help you," said Katara quietly, realising what the sage was saying. He was dying. Tears began to sting her eyes.

"No, Katara, you need your energy if you want to help Zuko,"

"Iroh, no…"

Iroh smiled up at her as he collapsed to his knees. "Katara, my dear, you made Zuko a promise and he made you one, you both need to keep those promises, and if you stay you will not be able to,"

Katara blinked and the tears came. "How did you—"

Iroh chuckled weakly. "Your brother knows about your relationship with Zuko, you think he will give you even a little bit of privacy?"

"But he was asleep!"

"That's what he made you think," said Iroh with an even weaker smile.

Katara shook her head. "Iroh, please, you can't—"

"You have to go Katara, help Zuko and Aang, they need you,"

"Uncle Iroh…"

"It's my time to go, Katara," said Iroh. "But I need you to do two more things for me—firstly, apologise to my nephew for me, and secondly, stay by him, make sure he doesn't follow the path that his father took,"

"Uncle Iroh, no, you can't—"

"Promise me you'll make sure he doesn't follow in his father's footsteps, Katara,"

Katara sniffed and let the tears form tracks down her cheeks. Iroh couldn't go. Not like this, not now. "Please Iroh, don't—"

"Promise me that you'll do it Katara," said the sage firmly.

Katara sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Alright, I promise, but please—"

Iroh smiled. "Katara, to me, death is just like a very long nap, so please don't cry, and thank you, now go, find Aang and Zuko,"

"Iroh, no, I'm not leaving," she sniffed.

"You must! Now go!"

Katara jumped at the old man's firmness and reluctantly, she nodded. She stood up and muttered a small good-bye and a thank you and ran off, looking back at the old man lying in a pool of his own blood, silent tears once again streaming down her face.

Iroh lay back and stared at the ceiling and after a second or two, closed his eyes, and the last words that escaped his lips were, "Good luck, Katara, and look out for Zuko…"

**Wait, wait, hear me out before you kill me! Firstly, I want to commit suicide myself (seriously, I cried while writing this), but you can have the honour of killing me when I finish—it won't be too long mind you, there's only, like, six chapters left. **

**Secondly, I blame this on Fluffly! Anna, this is all your fault! You made me read the tragic works of Shakespeare!**

**R'n'R **

**JJ**


	24. Sonore

**Hi guys!**

**Okay, I have yet to make up for the previous chapter but we will all be able to pay our last respects to Iroh, I swear. I know you all hate me, but you can kill me soon enough. This chap's for Zukoscute2, who guessed Fortissimo for this chapter. She was close, very close, but it was actually Sonore.**

**Enjoy! (Don't worry, at the end of this chap but you'll be upset, I know that for a fact, but don't worry, everything will be fine)**

**Disclaimer: Ozai!**

**Ozai: why the hell would I do this for you?**

**Me: Because you'll die in this fic if you don't.**

**Ozai: You used that on Zula! Nice try, but I'm too smart for that.**

**Me: (holds up Ozai plushie and scissors)I'll do it, I swear I will, I'll cut up your plushie.**

**Ozai: Argh! Fine! JJ owns nothing!**

**

* * *

Sonore**

**Sonore- **loud, sonorous

* * *

"_Nothing's gonna change the  
Things that you said,  
Nothing's gonna make this  
Right again,"_  
Perfect, Simple Plan

* * *

Katara ran through the halls of the Fire Nation Palace, shocked and confused. Her brain wouldn't process what had just happened. The duel between her and Zula, the plot that Zula had been planning, and…and…

She couldn't even think about that last fact. It hurt too much, and even though she had no relation to the old general whatsoever, she felt horrible and cold inside. That same horrible feeling had overwhelmed her when her mother died, and now it had come back again.

Katara swallowed a sob and wiped the tears away from her eyes. As much as she hated to even _think_ it, there was nothing she could do. She couldn't turn back time. He was gone. Iroh was _gone_. Forever. He was _dead_, and nothing could and/or would bring him back.

Though she thought it an insult to his memory, Katara pushed all thoughts concerning the old man to the back of her mind. There would be time to mourn later, right now, she needed to find her way to the Fire Lord's throne room.

Which was where?

Katara gazed around her confusedly ignoring the pain in the back of her head (which reminded her, for she had temporarily forgotten that she was bleeding). She had been running through the halls of the palace not paying attention to where she was going and now she was lost—lost inside a giant palace in which any Fire Nation soldier could find and kill her.

"I hate this," she mumbled, crouching down in frustration and burying her face in her hands. "Zuko and Aang need my help, I'm lost, and Iroh's gone, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this…"

"Miss Katara?"

Katara looked up. There, standing at the end of the hall, was one of Zuko's soldiers. She didn't know which one as she had never met them properly before, but she was grateful nevertheless.

"Oh, gods, thank you…" she whispered in relief.

"Miss Katara, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Katara stood up shakily from her spot on the floor and ambled towards the soldier. "Sir, please," she said. "I need to get to the throne room, Zuko and Aang—"

"Are there fighting the Fire Lord, follow me, miss," and immediately, the soldier turned around and hurried quickly down the hall.

Left, right, left, left again, Katara tried to remember which way they were going but it got too confusing for her. Finally, they arrived at a very large courtyard, surrounded by tall, marble pillars and a fountain in a large fountain in the middle. Zuko was right, they were beautifully carved, this one was of Avatar Roku, standing in water, a flame in one hand and a rock in the other.

But it was broken—half the statues face was lying shattered in the water below giving its countenance an eerie expression.

"Katara!"

"Sokka! What're you doing here?"

Sokka shook his head. "Never mind that, you look hurt, are you okay?"

"I'm fine but—" She was cut off by an arrow zooming past her arm and cutting her skin.

"You two!" said the soldier suddenly. "Reunion later, you have to go now! The Yu Yan are here, you have to go!"

"Which way?" asked Sokka.

The soldier waved his arm and a number of arrows were burnt to a pile of ashes before they could do any damage. "Straight ahead," he answered. "Follow the tapestries of the previous Fire Lords, now go!"

Sokka nodded and thanked him before grasping Katara's arm and dragging her towards cover.

"We didn't get your name!" she called as Sokka continued to haul her towards the safety of the Palace.

"Jee!" answered the soldier. "The name's Jee! Now go!"

"Thanks Jee!" she called.

Jee nodded to her and then turned back to face the archers.

Katara looked back at him as she wrenched her arm out of Sokka's grasp and ran forward, Sokka ran after her. After about five minutes of flat-out running, the two water tribe siblings could see the giant doorway into the throne room and a second later something rang in Katara's brain.

_I suppose you're wondering who betrayed Zuko's crew? It was Jee, you bumped into him at that Earth Kingdom market, you remember?_

Katara stopped suddenly. "It was him…" she whispered. "It was Jee…"

"Katara! Quit stalling!" yelled Sokka. "We have to go!"

"Sokka, it was Jee! He betrayed Zuko's crew! It was him!"

"Katara! Accusations later, we have to go now!"

"But Sokka—"

"Do you want to help Zuko or not?"

Katara shook her head to stop her from accusing Jee. Sokka was right, they had to help Zuko now. And Jee had just helped them and sacrificed himself so that they could get to Zuko and Aang.

"Katara, let's go!"

Coming back to reality, Katara nodded and followed Sokka who was already pushing at the gigantic doors. The two teenagers threw all their weight on the door and finally, it opened just enough for them to get through.

Katara squeezed through the gap and gasped at the sight before her. The Fire Lord was standing at one end of the room, a maniacal look in his eyes and throwing fire balls at Zuko. Aang was lying unconscious in one corner of the room.

Without thinking, Katara rushed over to the unconscious monk and examined him anxiously. Aang had burns all up his arm. Katara bit her lip, the burns were red and raw. She sighed in a relief as she checked his pulse and felt that it was there.

Inhaling deeply to calm herself, Katara opened her waterskin and summoned the watery blue gloves she used for healing and placed her hands on Aang's injured arm.

"Wake up, Aang," she muttered urgently. "Come on, wake up, please…"

The young Avatar didn't move.

"Get up, Aang!" she whispered. "We need your help! Get up!"

Still, Aang didn't move.

"Katara!"

Katara looked up and felt her eyes widen in horror as a fireball came speeding towards her. She shut her eyes tightly and shielded herself with an arm as a reflex and waited for the burning pain to overwhelm her, but it never came.

Zuko was there instead, his back to her, shielding her from Ozai's blows.

* * *

"Katara!"

Zuko watched in horror as a fireball sped towards the girl, and before he knew what he was doing, he rushed forward and swiped it away with his arm. He stood, breathing heavily and trying to stare his father down.

Ozai smirked at his son. "Protecting a waterbender," he jeered. "Disgraceful, I was right to banish you,"

"Leave her out of this, father," hissed Zuko. "And you're the one who should be disgraced, you attacked an innocent bystander,"

Ozai glared at Zuko. "She was _not_ an innocent bystander, because there she is, behind you and healing the Avatar, she's interfering,"

Zuko scowled and attacked his father with a wave of flames. Ozai simply brushed them off. Zuko continued to attack with several jets of flames, but Ozai continued to avoid them, and once Zuko had tired, he fired a large ball of flames towards the boy.

Zuko caught in the chest and was pushed back by the force of it. He fell to his hands and knees from exhaustion as Ozai approached him.

"You cannot and will not defeat me Zuko. You are weak and you are idiotic. You disgraced me in the War Chamber, you refused to fight me in an Agni Kai and now you have turned your back on your country. You. Are. Weak."

"You banished me, father, there was no country to turn my back on, and the fact that I am able to fight you now, on the side of the Avatar, proves that I am stronger than you will ever be,"

"And he's right," said Katara, getting to her feet and helping up a dazed looking Aang. "He was able to stand alone where the entire world was against him. And what's more, it was you that banished him for no good reason, you couldn't see and couldn't care less if his sister was plotting—you, Fire Lord Ozai, are the disgraceful one,"

Ozai stared at the girl incredulously. "You're brave, girl," he sneered, "but you are disrespectful, you show no respect to your elders,"

"Only because you deserve none," snapped Aang.

Sokka approached the trio (apparently, Ozai had not noticed him standing at the door) and said to the exhausted Fire Prince, "Get up, Zuko,"

"You're not alone this time," said Aang.

Katara knelt down beside him and whispered into his ear, "Zuko, you _have _to win this time, and we're here to make sure you do,"

This seemed familiar to Zuko…

"What if I don't?" he asked. "What if I fail?"

Katara smiled at him, "You won't fail," she said, "You're not alone this time, Zuko, history will not repeat itself," She kissed his cheek lightly. "Get up, we're here to end this war, you can't back down now because of a memory,"

It clicked. This had happened in a dream, that night on the ship when he finally realised that capturing the Avatar wasn't right. Zuko knew what was coming next, he nodded and got to his feet to face it.

"You're a failure, Zuko," said Ozai, advancing on him and then firing a flaming punch at him.

Zuko gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath, "Not this time," and he ducked, fast enough to avoid the flames. He had a fleeting glimpse of Katara stopping Ozai's attack with a wall of water, and he smirked to himself and swiped his foot under the Fire Lord, tripping him and causing him to fall backwards.

Ozai got to his feet, only to be met by a huge gust of wind and several fast water whips, and together, Aang, Zuko and Katara unleashed a large of tornado of water, fire and air.

Ozai looked up at it and growled in frustration. He knew that this could kill him if he didn't defend himself properly, and so, he summoned a massive wall of fire from the ground to block it, and when he let it down again, he grinned to himself as he saw that the tornado was nowhere in sight.

There was a distant rumbling sound and a shadow the size of a small boulder passed over them. Katara looked up and gasped.

"Aang! The comet!"

Aang looked up and gasped as well. "Sokka, let's go! Call Appa!" he yelled, throwing the bison whistle to Sokka.

The water tribe boy nodded, caught the whistle, and blew on it, hard. Less than a minute passed before Appa could be seen in the sky. Aang jumped up onto his saddle and let a rope down to Sokka, who took it and began to climb.

Katara yelled a 'Good luck' to the both of them before turning to face Ozai with Zuko.

"You stupid waterbender," said Ozai. "You think that you will be able to help this piece of scum that calls himself my son?"

"Actually, you're right, father," said Zuko suddenly, "I was never your son and you were never my father, you're too idiotic for that,"

Ozai growled and fired several streams of flames towards them. Zuko dodged them and Katara extinguished them with a single water whip.

"And you call yourself a firebender?" mocked Katara. "Shocking stuff, really, you'd think that a water peasant like me would be dead after all of that,"

"You will be!" roared Ozai. He sent a wave of flames along the ground towards the two teenagers. Zuko stopped it and sent it back towards his father by pushing his arms forward as if pushing something forward.

"Zuko!" hissed Katara under her breath. "I'm running out of water!"

"Right, I got it! Just keep avoiding the flames, try not to use any!"

Ozai suddenly stooped attacking, but he had a maniacal grin on his face that really scared the two teenagers.

"I can feel the comet's power! You two are dead!" and with that, Ozai raised his arms and a giant column of fire came out of the ground. The sudden amount of hot air felt like a huge gust of wind, and Katara was pushed back against the wall.

Zuko was flung against another wall.

"Not so smart mouthy now, are we, little girl?" jeered Ozai. "By the looks of things, you're exhausted now, and you're out of water,"

Katara glared at the Fire Lord but did not say anything.

"So, tell me, how much does my son care for you?"

Katara didn't answer.

"We'll find out shall we?" said Ozai pulling his arm back to summon flames. Katara looked away and shut her eyes tightly and once again waited for the blow, but once again, it didn't come.

Zuko had shielded her from Ozai's attack _again_ but this time it was too much for him. He collapsed in front of her and Katara gasped in horror.

Ozai smirked. He had done his job, his son was dead and the waterbender couldn't do anything about it. He smirked again and turned and left.

"Oh gods, Zuko, not you too…" choked Katara. She wasn't crying because she couldn't. No tears would fall even though she actually wanted them to. All she could do to show she was horrified, shocked and heartbroken was breathe in low, shallow breaths.

"Zuko, no, I can't lose you too, I refuse to let another Fire Bender die because of me, Zuko please…" Katara opened her waterskin and summoned the last of the water that she had and began to heal the fallen firebender before her.

Miraculously, she had enough water to heal the boy-almost-a-man completely. "Zuko, please, get up, I can't lose you too, please Zuko…"

ButZuko still didn't move. Katara sat beside him and sobbed uncontrollably into her hands, muttering incoherent words. So this was how it ended? With Zuko, Iroh and probably Jee dead? She couldn't take it…

"Zuko, please, _please_ get up…"

**Don't kill me yet! Zuko's not dead! ZUKO'S NOT DEAD! Okay, just thought I'd point that out before you all charge at me. He's not dead, everything will be fine, okay? He's not dead. I promise, everything will be fine.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**

**P.S. Zuko's not dead, he's too cool for me to kill, Iroh was too but that was Anna's fault.**


	25. Coda

**Hey Guys!**

**Listen, I know you all hate me, and so, I'm going to apologise at the beginning of very chapter from now on—there's this one and three other ones so I'm almost done and you can kill me. This is for everyone who hates Ozai, which is probably every one so I won't bother mentioning people.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA and I never will.**

**

* * *

Coda**

**Coda-**The end part of a piece

* * *

"_And even though the battle was won  
__I felt like we lost it,  
__I put so much energy into it,__  
Honestly I'm exhausted"  
_Like Toy Soldiers, Eminem

* * *

The silence was deafening. Really, it wasn't silence, as faint rumbling sounds and explosions and the occasional chilling scream of anguish could be heard from below. But the noise of the commotion happening on the ground seemed to melt together to make one sonorous rumbling sound which was so loud it could have been mistaken for silence.

Aang stared anxiously at the approaching comet. He could feel it's power because he was able to control fire as well as the other elements, and he knew that he could harness that power as well as any firebender could, but he couldn't help but feel extremely nervous.

He sighed and turned to Sokka. "As soon as I leave, go back and find Katara and Zuko, make sure they're alright, got it?"

Though he felt like objecting, Sokka nodded. Aang was right, he wasn't worried about Zuko—the idiot would be fine, but Katara was his sister and he was mostly worried about her.

"Good, here it comes,"

Sokka clapped him brotherly on the shoulder as he was getting ready to leave. "Make us proud, Aang, save the world again,"

Aang nodded. Taking his glider with one hand and pushing himself up with the other, Aang summoned a great cushion of air beneath his feet and leapt off the side of Appa's saddle and glided next to him for a few moments.

Finally, Sokka pulled on Appa's reigns to make him turn around and head back for the Fire Palace. "Come on, Appa, Aang'll be fine, let's go,"

The bison growled gloomily but turned around nevertheless.

Aang watched them shrink into the distance and sighing once again, he turned to face the massive, fiery rock coming towards him. Taking in a huge gulp of air to relax himself, Aang steered himself to the nearest mountain (not too shocking that the Fire Nation Capital would be situated near an extremely precipitous mountain range—the mountains provided good protection but Aang considered himself fortunate for the Fire Nation to think the way that they do; he'd rather not try standing on the air while trying to destroy a giant comet) and landed on the tip of the highest, closest-to-the-comet mountain he could find.

The young monk had a shrewd idea of how to destroy something so big in his mind and the first step was to cool it down.

Aang raised his arms and slowly pressed his hands together as if trying to compress something invisible between them. He was gathering as much moisture from the air as he could—this proved to be a difficult task as there was hardly any water in the air; the atmosphere in the Fire Nation was so arid. After a few moments, all he had was a small ball of water, not nearly enough to cool the massive rock.

The young Avatar gritted his teeth in frustration. Water was out of the question, there wasn't enough of it, and so air was the only other option. He prayed that by some miracle, the dry air, when blown, would be enough to cool the massive thing down.

He stepped back a bit, drew in a deep breath and threw his hands forward, unleashing as much air as he could towards the comet. From what Aang could see, it didn't make much of a difference.

He sighed again in irritation realising that cooling the thing down wasn't going to work. Trying to stop it in mid-air like his first initial thought would be even stupider—maybe he was going about this the wrong way. He vaguely remembered something King Bumi had said—

"_And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius,"_

Okay then, mad genius it was. Thinking hard on how to pull this off, Aang summoned the energy to break the tip off the nearest mountain, and using his earth bending, he sharpened the point to be as sharp as it could.

He launched it at the comet and hoping that _this_ plan would work. Aang bit his lip as he watched the giant spike speed through the air and imbed itself in the looming comet.

There was part of his plan. Now he had just hoped that the spike had done what he had intended it to do. Aang jumped back on to his glider flew up to the comet looking for the point of impact, and at last, after a few moments of searching, he found it.

There was now what looked like a cave, tunnelling deep into the rock. Hoping that it was deep enough, Aang flew straight into it, bracing himself for the heat that surrounded the comet.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as hot and he wondered whether the amount of air he blew at it before _did _have an effect.

Aang flew straight through the inside of the comet to the furthest point he could go. And from there everything seemed like a blur.

What Aang could remember was that he summoned almost every bit of energy he had left and put it into destroying the comet, and with a powerful cry, it was done.

There was an explosion, a massive one and then he was falling through the air, thinking that he was probably dead.

* * *

"_Wake up, Aang, it's not over yet,_"

There was a flash of white light and impossible as it may seem, Aang could see himself free-falling a thousand-odd feet. He looked around him and noticed Avatar Roku sitting in front of him, and he realised—he, Aang, was in the Spirit World yet again.

"_Avatar Roku?_"

"_It's not over yet, the Comet may be destroyed, the soldiers on the ground may have stopped fighting due to the huge explosion that occurred no longer than a few moments ago, but Fire Lord Ozai has not yet been defeated,_"

Aang blinked. "_But what about Zuko and Katara? Haven't they—_"

"_They have not defeated the Fire Lord,_"

"_I have to kill him?_" asked Aang incredulously.

Avatar Roku nodded grimly.

Aang sighed. "_Katara and Zuko, are they—_"

"_I don't know Aang, but you must wake up, if you die, the Avatar cycle will be broken forever,_"

"_The Avatar State…_" said Aang, realising why he didn't really know what had happened and why he was in the Spirit World.

Avatar Roku nodded.

"_Wake up, Aang, it's not over,_"

Aang looked around and saw that it was not only Avatar Roku, but the previous Avatars as well, and a number of people that he didn't know—they weren't Avatars, but some looked vaguely familiar. It wasn't 'til some one clapped him on the shoulder that he realised who they were.

"_Iroh! What are you doing here?_"

"_My time on the world has ended, young Avatar, but yours must not come now. The world still needs you, now wake up,_"

"_But—_"

"_Aang, wake up, _now,"

And with that, the scene before him swirled and dissolved and a new one materialised—the ground was rushing towards him and the wind was howling in his ears. His glider was a few feet away. With a small wave of his arm, his glider was pulled towards him as if he were a magnet, and he flew—straight for the Fire Palace.

* * *

"Katara! Are you okay!"

Sokka ran towards his sister, who was kneeling next to an unconscious Zuko (Sokka wanted so bad to celebrate that his sister's 'suitor' was dead…or dying, but he figured that if he did, he would be risking drowning).

Katara wiped her eyes with her sleeve—Sokka really couldn't see why she did so as her face was dry—and looked up at him.

"Katara, what happened?"

The girl sniffed. "Ozai tried to attack me, but Zuko stopped him, and I don't know if he…"

She couldn't continue. She couldn't bear to think that Zuko was dead—she hoped and prayed that he wasn't but this seemed highly unlikely.

"Shh, Katara, it's okay, he'll be fine, listen, we have to get out of here, okay? He'll be fine,"

The girl nodded and sniffed again.

"Come on, help get him onto Appa, there's a first-aid camp somewhere on the outskirts of the city, we'll take him there," said Sokka.

Katara nodded again. Together, she and Sokka heaved Zuko onto Appa just as a large explosion was heard from above. The two siblings looked confusedly up to where it came from and squinted at the bright white light in the sky.

It meant only one thing—Aang had done it, the comet had been destroyed.

* * *

Aang searched the city ignoring the pain in his arms that told him that he had been hanging onto his glider for too long. Exhausted as he was, he couldn't stop—this needed to be done, and as much as he didn't want to do it, Aang had to defeat the Fire Lord.

Defeat meaning kill.

Avatar Roku had said that he didn't know whether Katara and Zuko were okay. Normally that would mean that one of them was seriously injured (Aang seriously hoped that this wasn't the case) but then that would mean that Ozai was no longer in the palace.

It would mean that Ozai had thought that the two of them wouldn't able to do him any damage, and so, he left.

Ten minutes of searching and Aang finally caught sight of the Fire Lord in a courtyard, strutting triumphantly as if he had already won. Aang soared above him and landed a little way before him.

Ozai stared at the exhausted young monk and laughed. "You're a child and you're exhausted, Avatar, you honestly think that you can defeat me?"

"You haven't won yet, Ozai," snapped Aang trying not to look as fatigued as he was, "There's no way you're going to win!"

"Says a twelve year-old child like _you_," taunted Ozai. "You may have destroyed the comet, but you are exhausted from doing so, you won't win,"

"We'll see about that," muttered Aang, and he fired a stream of flames at the Fire Lord.

Ozai dodged them with ease and launched a large of ball of fire towards Aang.

Aang raised a wall of earth to block it. He could see a ruined fountain out of the corner of his eye—ruined, yes, but there was still water running. Aang smirked despite himself; all four elements were present at that time. He could—no, _would_ win this fight, he had to!

Ozai fired several other fireballs towards Aang, who dodged them again and again.

The Fire Lord knew that Aang couldn't keep this up for much longer. He knew that Aang was tired and once he was completely exhausted and couldn't keep dodging his blows like this. The monk wouldn't last.

"You keep trying Avatar, but you won't win," said Ozai, stomping on the ground creating a large wave of flames.

"Says the megalomaniac who's trying to take over the world!" hissed Aang, parting the flames simply by waving his arms in one swift motion. "You're not going to win!"

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" snapped the firebender.

"No," said Aang, breathing heavily, "I don't, and neither do you," and with that, Aang summoned the water from the broken-down fountain, combined it with streams of air, earth and fire and sent the massive attack towards the Fire Lord.

Ozai was knocked backwards into the wall, and with one upward movement of his arm, Aang buried the Fire Lord up to his chin in a column of earth. He summoned the last of the water in the ruined fountain and froze it around the column of earth, enforcing it so that Ozai could not break out of it.

He approached the struggling Fire Lord with a shadowy look in his eyes and said darkly, "You've lost Ozai," And with that, Aang raised his arms above his head and moved them downwards in a pushing motion, burying Ozai beneath the earth.

And that was it. Ozai was buried deep within the earth, never to be seen again.

Aang staggered towards the wall and collapsed against it in exhaustion. He'd never been so tired in his life, but he had done it. He had destroyed Souzen's Comet and he had defeated Fire Lord Ozai. It was over—he had won.

**(Starts singing) Ding, dong, the git is dead! The git is dead! The git is dead! Ding, dong, the evil git is dead! Celebrate guys, Ozai's gone! YAY! Have I redeemed myself for killing Iroh yet? Yes? No? If I haven't, don't worry, we'll all get to pay our last respects to him…sob. **

**Any who, almost done which means it's voting time for my next fic!**

**Do you want me to:  
A)Finish my first Avatar fic, Saviour, Captor, Lover?  
B) Write a sequel?  
C) Write a little comedy relief?  
or D) ban myself from writing Fanfiction for a month as punishment for me killing Iroh?**

**Lemme know when you review.**

**JJ**


	26. Tranquillo

**Hi Guys!**

**Wow, this was written faster than I thought, and that's with what I call EOTT's on at our school (End of Term Tests, everyone hates them). Not much else to say but OMG! ****How the hell did I get 400 reviews? What planet am I on, people? How the freakin' hell did I get this many reviews?**

**Any way, this is for Colorcrystals who finally decided to forgive me. Thank God you're not trying to kill me anymore, Colorcrystals, you really scared me than, lol.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Ozai, I'm making you do this again.**

**Ozai: You told me I wouldn't die in this fic!**

**Me: Oh yeah, about that…I lied**

**Ozai: Why you little—**

**Me: Do this disclaimer and you'll be remembered, swear on my honour.**

**Ozai: I'd better be, Jellyjay owns nothing.**

**

* * *

Tranquillo**

**Tranquillo-** peacefully, tranquil

* * *

"_I open my eyes,  
__I try to see but I'm blinded  
__By the white light,  
__Ican't remember how,  
__I can't remember why,  
__I'm lyin' here tonight,"  
_Untitled, Simple Plan

* * *

"…is he going to be okay?"

"Yes, he'll be fine, it's a wonder he survived—it's a wonder you all survived. What about you? You look hurt,"

"No, I'm fine,"

"But you're bleeding!"

"Look, at the moment, I don't care, I'm fine, you should be worrying over him, not me,"

"You're sure?"

"Yes,"

Those voices…one of them sounded familiar…

Zuko tried to open his eyes to see who it was but found that his eyelids were too heavy.

"…"

"You're worried about the Avatar, aren't you?"

"…yeah, gods, I hope he's okay,"

"He's fine, I'm sure,"

"…how is he?"

"He who?"

"Zuko! Who else would I be talking about?"

There was a sigh. "For the last time, Katara, he's _fine_, that's about the eighth you've asked me. Look, I know you're worried but you need to go and relax,"

Katara, that's who it was. He remembered now, the other voice didn't belong to anyone he knew. It belonged to a woman though, he knew that.

"Go where? Outside where there's a war going on?"

"The fighting should have stopped now, that explosion we heard earlier was the comet, I think,"

"It was, but I'm not leaving,"

"Katara, please, you need to relax, you're very stressed, I'll call you back in when he wakes up, go on,"

"I'm not leaving him!" said Katara's indignant voice.

"Katara, you have to relax and you're not going to be able to in here,"

"No! I'm not going to—"

Katara's voice was fading which meant that the woman that she was talking to was pushing her out of the tent.

_No, don't go…_

Despite his lack of energy, Zuko managed a small, inward groan and tried to open his eyes once again—this time succeeding. He saw Katara being ushered out of the tent by a short, elderly woman to whom the other voice must have belonged to.

"Zuko!"

"Katara?" he asked weakly, propping himself onto his elbows, ignoring the screaming pains in his arms and shoulders. Katara rushed towards him and, thankfully, Katara managed to hold herself back from throwing her arms around him—that would have caused him _very _much pain.

He had a slight moment of confusion before everything cleared up in his head—the battle between him and his father, and then Katara being pulled into it, Katara almost getting attacked by his father…

"Katara! Are you okay? My father didn't—"

Katara silenced him with a small smile. "It's okay, Zuko, I'm fine, your father left when you collapsed thinking I couldn't do anything. Are _you _okay?"

"A little sore, but I'm fine,"

Katara smiled and looked like she wanted to give him a bear hug, but she held back again noting that Zuko was in pain. Instead, she swooped down and gave him a soft peck on the cheek. "Thanks Zuko, you saved my life,"

"Any time," said Zuko quietly. "How's Sokka and Aang?"

"Sokka's fine, but…"

"But?" prompted Zuko.

"Aang hasn't come back yet. We don't know where he is, or if he's okay,"

The elderly woman, Zuko had noticed, had left the tent, but he turned back to Katara and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. There was a pause as Zuko tried to sit up properly, and finally, he spoke up.

"Where's my Uncle?"

The relief in Katara's eyes vanished almost instantly. She had forgotten, and she felt terrible for it. She felt as if she had just committed a crime—forgetting the old man that had aided Zuko for almost three long years. Through thick and thin, he was always there and now he was gone. For her sake.

"Zuko…"

"Katara, what happened?"

"Oh gods, Zuko, I'm so sorry…" she said, in a voice barely more than a whisper.

"Katara, please, just tell me what happened," said Zuko, dreading the explanation.

Katara stepped away from him. She knew that Zuko, obviously, wouldn't like what had happened and that he'd probably explode. She felt that the death of his Uncle was her fault, and she couldn't bear to say it—especially not to his nephew.

"Katara, tell me this isn't what I think it is, please, just tell me that I'm thinking the wrong thing…my Uncle, he can't be…"

Katara stepped back even more, a hand clapped to her mouth as if that if she said anything, she'd puke. She looked like she was going to cry, but she held the tears back. She looked away and whispered, "Zuko, I'm so sorry, I didn't….I tried to…"

"He's gone, isn't he?" said Zuko quietly. "My Uncle's gone…Katara, why didn't you heal him?"

"Zuko," she said, now well away from the firebender in case he lost it. "I'm sorry, I tried, I really did, but he wouldn't let me. He told me to save my strength and go and find you and just leave him behind. I didn't want to, but…" she couldn't go on. "Zuko, I'm so sorry…"

Zuko said nothing. He just stared at the floor, lost in his own thoughts.

"Zuko?"

Zuko looked up at her and then back down to the floor. Then he said quietly, "I need some time alone,"

"Zuko—"

"Katara, just leave me alone, please,"

"But—"

"Just leave!" barked Zuko. Katara jumped at the teenager's sudden command and backed out of the tent without another word.

Zuko sighed heavily in a mixture of frustration and despair. He didn't mean to bark at her like that, but it didn't change the fact that his only real family was gone.

_Iroh_ was gone.

* * *

Aang took a shaky breath as he stood up using his staff to aid him. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had just killed the Fire Lord. He had just _killed _another human being—evil, maybe, but still human.

Weakly, he stumbled out of the courtyard and into the streets of the Fire Nation Capital. Though it would have been faster, Aang was too tired and too depressed to fly. He walked slowly to the outskirts of the city, hearing nothing. It was silent. There was no sound whatsoever. The fighting must have stopped already.

And then the sight that he saw outside the City walls made him sick to his stomach. He felt like puking—the sight before him was terrible. Sickening. Terrifying, even, of all the words to describe it, he couldn't pick just one.

There were bodies everywhere. Burnt bodies, bloodied bodies, bodies with arrows lodged in their chests and backs. There were a number of soldiers with open, lifeless eyes, cold and empty.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of dead soldiers lay before him, all dead in one battle. Some survivors wandered the battlefield looking for other survivors or making their way back to the Earth Kingdom base camp.

He couldn't take it anymore. This was absolutely disturbing. Without another word or glance, Aang opened his glider and flew off, ignoring the mental protests ringing in his mind. All he knew was that if he stayed on the ground, he'd be sick and would be disturbed out of his mind.

* * *

"Katara? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, Sokka, leave me alone,"

"You sure don't look fine," Sokka approached his miserable sister who was sitting in the corner of one of the healing tents. "What happened?"

"Sokka—"

"Remember the last time you tried to hide something from me? Come on, Katara, does this have something to do with Zuko again? You know that I won't let him hurt you,"

Katara scoffed in spite of herself and sighed. "Iroh's gone, Sokka," she said quietly.

"What do you me—"

"I mean, he's _gone_," she said. "And it's my fault. On the way to the throne room we ran into Zuko's sister. I told the other two to leave me behind so they could defeat Ozai, and then we duelled, me and Zuko's sister. I lost but Iroh saved my life. He knocked her out using firebending but he'd been shot on the way to the palace,"

"How is that your fault?"

"I could have healed him, but I didn't. I tried to, but he told me not to, but I should have healed him anyway…"

Sokka sighed and tried to comfort the dejected girl. She wasn't crying surprisingly, but she was depressed.

"What's the rest of the story?" he asked.

"Zuko's mad, and it's all my fault,"

Sokka sighed again. "What is it with you and guilt trips? Nothing is your fault, alright? He was shot, remember? You didn't kill him, some one else did, therefore, it's not your fault,"

Katara looked at her brother and smiled. "Thanks Sokka," she said quietly. "How's dad? And Bato? And Haru and Suki?"

Sokka smiled at his baby sister. "They're all alive, Haru's seriously hurt though,"

"He's what!"

"Nah, I'm just kidding, they're all fine, we'll see them all later,"

The tent flap opened and an exhausted looking, orange-clad figure entered the tent.

"Aang! Are you okay?"

Aang didn't answer. As soon as he entered the tent, he collapsed onto the nearest mattress and groaned. "Pain…" he mumbled onto the pillow.

"Are you okay?" asked Sokka.

"Do I sound okay to you?" muttered the young Avatar into his pillow.

Sokka grinned. "Yup, you're perfectly fine. Just take this time to rest, come on Katara, we'll go see dad,"

Katara sighed and nodded. "Can you give me about ten minutes first? I have to talk to Zuko,"

"Go ahead, go and make up with your boyfriend,"

"He's not my boyfriend," snapped Katara heatedly.

"Well as of now, he is, dad approves,"

**Well, there you go. I cried writing that first part—what's worse I was in the living room and my parents were watching TV and noticed me crying. God, that was embarrassing. Anywho, hope you liked, we're almost there but I think I might throw in one more chapter. Might, might not, who knows, but we'll find out soon.**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	27. Piano

**Hey Guys!**

**Okay, this is really bugging me, it seems that some of you guys keep thinking this over—it ain't over 'til you see the word 'Fine', kay? Cool, just thought I'd say that. This is for Twins of the Sun who asked a very good question about the last chapter: It's called 'Tranquillo' because there's no more fighting and it's peaceful…sort of…aw, you know what? Screw it, I'm confusing myself.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Avatar Roku? Are the others still mad at me?**

**Avatar Roku: Just Zuko.**

**Me: Can you do it for me anyway?**

**Avatar Roku: JJ owns nothing.**

**

* * *

Piano **

**Piano-**Soft

* * *

"_Touch me,  
__And I will follow,  
__In your afterglow,"  
_After Glow, INXS

* * *

Katara gaped at her brother. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked, not quite believing what Sokka had just said. 

Sokka smirked at the confused look on his baby sister's face. He had once said that there was no way that he would accept the fact that his little sister had fallen for a Firebender—let alone the Firebending Prince, but now he couldn't help but smile at his sister's utter confusion.

And besides, he could always blackmail Zuko into making sure Katara was never hurt in any way—that would always be fun.

"I said, 'dad approves,'"

Katara's eyes narrowed in suspicion before she started laughing sarcastically. "Ha…ha…Sokka, joke's over, can I go now?"

Sokka blinked. "You know, Katara, I thought you were smarter than that. You call yourself _my _sister?"

"Actually, I'm surprised I am," said Katara scathingly. "How could I possibly related to _you_ of all people?"

Sokka shook his head. "You don't get it, do you?"

"Oh, I get it perfectly well," she said. "You're messing with my head—Zuko's the prince of the _Fire _Nation, there's no way dad would say he approves of _him_,"

"Katara, have you not lived with me long enough to know when I am and when I'm not lying? 'Cuz if you haven't noticed, I'm _not _lying,"

"Sure, and Aang may as well be evil," said Katara flatly gesturing at the young Avatar on the mattress.

"Keep me out of this, please," came the muffled reply from Aang. "I'm too tired for this…"

Katara rolled her eyes and stared unenthusiastically at Sokka. "Joke's over, I'm leaving,"

Sokka grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "I'm serious, Katara. Listen to me, dad knows how Zuko almost died to save your life, dad knows about that promise you made to Zuko, dad knows that you've been at Zuko's side since we brought him in—basically, dad knows how you feel for each other, and he approves,"

Katara stared at her brother's surprisingly serious face. "Oh gods, you were listening…"

Sokka released her arm hastily and stepped back. "I didn't say that," he said maybe a little too quickly.

Katara ignored his reply. "Sokka, why, in the gods' name, must you listen to every conversation I share with Zuko?"

"I'm your big brother, it's my job," said Sokka with a smirk. "You believe me, now?"

"Not completely, I'm going to talk to dad about that later on, now though, I have to talk to Zuko," Without another word, Katara exited the tent and hurried off to Zuko's tent.

"Is it true?" said a muffled voice suddenly.

"Aang, I thought you were over that already,"

"I am, I'm just wondering if it's true or not," said Aang, his face still buried in the mattress, obviously still too tired to move.

Sokka sighed. "Yeah, it is. As much as I hate to admit the fact, Zuko's the guy for her, he'll look after her and everything and if he doesn't, you're going to help me kill him,"

Still not moving, Aang asked, "Why are you so overprotective of her?"

"It's my job," answered Sokka. "There's a rule that most big brothers live by, and it's 'all men older than your younger sister and not related to her, are scum,' there's a bunch of other rules we live by but I can't be stuffed to recite them for you,"

"Mmf,"

"English, please, Aang,"

"It's just that…I dunno, Katara's been so much to me, it's just weird that we have to suddenly lose her to Zuko—the guy who she used to hate and the guy who's the complete opposite of her…I just find that kinda messed up,"

"I know it's weird that we have to suddenly let go, but that's life…eh, we'll get over it, now get some shut–eye, you need it,"

* * *

"Zuko?" 

"Go away, Katara,"

"Zuko, please," said Katara timidly, "I'm sorry…I tried to help him, Zuko, really I did, there was no way in hell that I would have let him die…"

"But you did," snapped Zuko.

"Zuko, please…"

"Please what?" he spat. "My Uncle's gone because of you! You could have healed him! You could have helped him, but instead…instead…." Zuko couldn't even say the word. His brain just wouldn't process it, as if he had completely forgotten how to say the word.

"I'm sorry, Zuko," she said again, refusing to let the tears fall. "He told me to leave him behind, he told me to save my energy and to find you instead…"

"Explanations won't do any good now," said Zuko savagely.

"Zuko…"

"Just go away, Katara,"

"Zuko, please, I know you it was my fault, but please, you can't keep shunning me like this!" she choked. Katara couldn't hold them back anymore. The tears came and they rolled silently down her cheek—she had never broken down this often, only once before had this happened. The last time that this had happened was when her mother died and that was more than four years back.

"Zuko, it's my fault he died, I know that, but please, _please_, stop shunning me! You can't keep running away like this, it isn't good for you! Please Zuko…"

"Leave Katara,"

"No, I'm not leaving. You can't live like this, Zuko, you can't. He wouldn't want you to…"

"How would you know what he would want me to do?" spat Zuko, flames erupting from his fists. "How would you know that, Katara? It was you who let him die! How would you know what he would want?"

Katara stepped back in fear. "He told me, Zuko," she said quietly. "He made me promise to him that I'd make sure you didn't live like your father. He made me promise that I wouldn't let you live like this, please, Zuko, I promised your Uncle…don't make me break that promise, Zuko, I don't want to, it's the least I can do for him…"

"No," said Zuko quietly. "The least you can do for him is to leave his nephew alone when he wants to be alone,"

Katara shook her head. "I'm not leaving, Zuko, I refuse to break that promise,"

"Get lost, Katara, I don't want you in here,"

"I don't care what you say, Zuko!" she snapped suddenly through her tears. "That's the thing with you! You won't accept help when you need it! You won't accept forgiveness when you deserve it! You won't accept company when you need it most! Why won't you, Zuko? Why?"

"Get out, wench,"

The sudden insult made Katara recoil, nevertheless she continued her argument. "Zuko, stop. Your Uncle made me promise him something that I refuse to break. Please, don't make me break it, please, it was his dying wish that I make sure you don't turn into your father, don't make me break it…"

"I said get out!"

"If you won't let me keep it, at least stop being like this! Please, stop this depression thing! Your Uncle wouldn't want you to be like this over him, just stop!"

"Wench! I told you to get out!"

Katara sighed. "Fine, Zuko. If you feel that strongly about me letting you stay sulky like this, fine. But I'm sorry. I'm sorry for breaking the news to you. I'm sorry for being the one your Uncle chose to make sure you don't turn into your father. I'm sorry for trying to help you…and your Uncle's sorry too,"

Katara turned to leave the tent so Zuko get over himself in peace.

"Katara, wait,"

Katara stopped a few inches from the exit of the tent but did not turn around. "I thought you wanted to be alone," she said quietly.

"What did my Uncle tell you before he died?"

"He made me promise that I wouldn't let you turn into your father, and he said to tell you that he was sorry," she answered without turning around. "I'll leave you alone now,"

"No, Katara, don't go,"

"Make up your mind, Zuko," she said coldly. "Do you want me to go or not?"

"Don't go," he said, "Please,"

Katara heaved a sigh and turned to face him.

"Come here," said Zuko, beckoning her over to him. Katara approached him reluctantly and looked down at him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did he tell you to apologise?"

Katara refused to look him in the eye as she answered. "He said he was sorry because he couldn't come and help you defeat your father," she said quietly.

Zuko heaved a sigh and buried his face in his hands. He could feel Katara's gaze bearing down on him and it was then when he couldn't take it any more. Katara was the only who, other than his Uncle, seen him for what he really was. Not the firebending prince of the Fire Nation, but just a sixteen year-old boy who wanted a piece of life like everyone else, and he had yelled at her, upset her, and almost attacked her because it was her who watched his Uncle die.

"I'm sorry, Katara," he said, not looking up. "It wasn't your fault, and you couldn't do what you could to save him because he told you not to. You're not a wench, I'm sorry I called you that…it's just…"

"It's okay, Zuko, I know you didn't mean it," said Katara, kneeling down next to him and placing a hand on his bare shoulder. "You were angry, and you had every right to be. Your Uncle's gone and he was more like a father to you than just an uncle, but even though he's gone, you can't live like this, in depression and…recklessness, and though it feels like an insult to his memory, you have to get over it because that's just the way things work. Time doesn't stop when someone dies, it just keeps going on and on,"

"I know," said Zuko quietly, looking up at the waterbender and pulling her into his embrace so that she was leaning against his chest. "There's nothing any of us can do it about it, it just is…"

Zuko heard a small sniff and figured that Katara must be crying again. He stroked her hair absently, trying to stop his own tears from falling.

"I'm sorry, Zuko," whispered Katara again. "I really should have done more but—"

"But nothing, Katara, you couldn't do anything, it wasn't your fault. If any one should be sorry, it should be me—so I'm sorry, for freaking out at you like that,"

Katara smiled as Zuko ducked down and kissed her lightly on her neck and then again on her cheek. She turned to him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips before trying to get up to leave.

Zuko pulled her back. "Don't go, Katara, please,"

"Zuko, I'm tired," she said, finally realising how exhausted she was. "Please, can I go get some sleep?"

"Come on Katara, please stay?" pleaded Zuko.

Katara stared at him for a moment or two before leaning back against him. "Fine, I'll stay, but it's your fault if I fall asleep in here, which I probably will,"

Zuko smiled at the girl in his arms and watched her until she fell asleep. He watched her peaceful form for a few more moments, and it wasn't long before he fell asleep too.

**Two more to go! Oh, and if you want to stop me from writing a sequel, better start telling me to 'cuz the sequel's winning the votes by a long way. Btw, did this chapter suck? I have a sinking feeling that it does…**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	28. Solenne

**Hey** **Guys!**

**Holy** **cheese** **and** **crackers, I wrote more than seven pages! Unbelievable! I actually don't have much to say today…**

**Enjoy!**

**Oh yeah, for all who love Iroh—everyone reading this fic who hated me temporarily and for those who still hate me, and for the characters themselves. I'm sorry I did that guys, but I swear, it's not the last we see of him.**

**Disclaimer: Forgive me yet?**

**Aang: Enough to do your disclaimer. Thank the gods you own nothing!**

* * *

Solenne 

**Solenne-** Solemn

* * *

"_Of all the lives you've touched,  
you've taught me so much,  
Now angels lift you up,  
to a place you'll love so much,  
and you'll be welcome there, I know,"  
_Our Song, Goodnight Nurse

* * *

Aang stared at the canvas ceiling above him and sighed. Had it really only been two days since the war finally ceased? It sure didn't feel like it. He had felt that time had moved rather slowly but very quickly t the same time—he'd thought that it'd been a few weeks already since the end of that war until Katara told him earlier that day that it had been two days.

Aang sighed once more. Once again, probably for the eighth time that day (which was quite a lot taking into account that it was only just before lunch) the young Avatar lay on the small mattress in the canvas tent he had been given. Though he had plenty of time to rest, Aang hadn't had one bit of decent sleep in the two days that had passed. All his dreams had been plagued with visions of corpses, all with their dead cold eyes staring at him. It made him shudder just thinking about them.

But even when he wasn't asleep, Aang had a constant lingering feeling of guilt in his gut. All the people he and his friends had dragged into the actual battle, and all those people who died. And even though the Fire Lord was evil, he was still a human like everyone else.

It had taken those two days for that fact to sink in. Two days, just for Aang to let the fact that he had killed another human being sink in. He, twelve—almost thirteen year-old, fun loving Aang, had killed another _human being_.

Shudder.

Aang felt the worst he had ever felt in his life. He wouldn't have been surprised if he couldn't pull himself together and end up suffering from depression for the rest of his life. He could count on his fingers everything that made him feel this bad.

The amount of people he had pulled into the war that were now dead, the fact that he had killed another man, Iroh's death, the fact that he had killed another man, the nightmares that kept replaying over and over again in his head, and the fact that he had killed another man.

Yes, he knew he repeated that one fact three times but it was something he thought he'd never have to do, but now that he had done it, it was tough to believe that he had, but even through that fact, the worst part of it was that there was no more tea-drinking Iroh to help him get over himself.

He was Zuko's uncle, yes, but after all they'd been through, how could he not feel bad? Iroh was one of the greatest people Aang had ever met, he was not just an uncle to Zuko but he was like an uncle to Aang himself and now that he was gone…

Aang sighed again. He noted dimly how many times he had already sighed—really, he had nothing better to do other than contemplate life.

Staring at the canvas ceiling again, Aang continued to think about anything, _anything _at all that would make him feel better and after a few moments, and then it came to him.

Though many of the surviving soldiers were on their way home already, there were still some that remained in the Fire Nation until everything was back in order—Katara and Sokka's father being one of them along with several soldiers from Omashu, Haru, and Suki themselves.

Aang knew what he could do—a ceremony to remember those fallen, yet honourable soldiers was in order.

* * *

"You know, when we came to find you guys, we didn't get much time to catch up, did we? So tell us, how was life before we showed up again?"

It was lunch time, and after two days of healers fussing over them, Katara and Sokka were finally allowed to see their old friends whom they had reluctantly dragged into the battle.

Of course the fact that Katara had refused to leave Zuko's side until she was satisfied that he was okay probably delayed the healers their chance to fuss over her therefore lengthening the amount of time they needed to fuss.

The four teenagers—Katara, Sokka, Haru and Suki, sat in a small circle away from the other soldiers so they could catch up with each other without interruption. Aang and Zuko would've been with them too but Aang refused to leave his tent even after much persuasion from Katara, as for Zuko, somehow the water tribe siblings knew that Suki wouldn't like him too much and decided that it would be better to introduce Zuko to both Suki and Haru when he wasn't so depressed and irritable.

So, here they were, Katara and Sokka, Haru, the same as ever and Suki, who had ditched the warrior's uniform and the make-up for a while. Instead, she wore a simple green robe not to different from Katara's which gave her the look of simplicity, but still with the same look of a warrior.

"You tell us," said Haru. "You two go first, you've travelled all over the world with the Avatar--we wanna hear about your stories first,"

"There's not much to tell," said Sokka. "Aang mastered water, earth and finally firebending with the help of Katara's new boyfriend,"

"Katara has a boyfriend?" asked Suki, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Shut up, Sokka," muttered the waterbender.

Sokka smirked as he found the perfect way to annoy his sister. He ignored her and continued. "Oh yeah, you know, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, you two know him, right?"

Suki and Haru turned to Katara incredulously as she looked away blushing.

"Zuko? Wasn't he the guy—?"

"Who chased all over the world, yeah, that's him," said Sokka, still smirking.

"_Him_? Katara, how could you?" asked Suki, torn between amusement at the girl's crimson face and shock. "Wasn't he the guy who destroyed our village too?"

Katara turned back to them and glared at her brother. "Yeah, that's the one, but why talk about my love life when we can talk about Sokka's? Suki, have you heard of Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe?"

Sokka glared at his sister. "Don't you dare!" he hissed under his breath.

"Oh no, why should _I_ explain? Sokka, you tell these two what happened at the North Pole, surely they'd _love _to hear your story," said Katara, smirking maliciously at her brother. She considered tormenting him like this was fun.

Sokka looked at Suki uncomfortably. "Erm…do we have to talk about this?"

"Of course we do!" said Katara. "It's really quite a good story, Suki, you should hear it,"

Haru looked from Sokka to Suki feeling slightly confused. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing at all, Haru," answered Katara briskly. "You see," she ignored the glare that Sokka was giving her, "Sokka and Suki go way back. She and Sokka had a few moments while we were on Kyoshi, now watch, this could be fun," She turned to Sokka. "Go on Sokka, you wouldn't want to keep Suki waiting,"

Sokka tugged at his collar.

"Sokka, what's your sister talking about?" demanded the warrior girl, eyeing the boy suspiciously.

"Uh…how about I tell you later after we've heard your stories?"

"How about you tell us now?" said Suki.

"Uh…um…I'm going to get more food," said Sokka, avoiding Suki's gaze, and without another word, he rushed off to do so.

"Katara, why don't you just tell us?" asked Haru after Sokka left.

"It's more fun this way," she turned to Suki. "So let's hear it, what happened after we left and before we came back?"

Suki turned to the earthbender next to Katara. "Do you want to go first or should I?"

Haru shrugged. "Ladies first," he said politely.

Suki sighed. "After you guys left, we spent, what, a few months cleaning up the damage your boyfriend caused?"

Katara grinned sheepishly and mumbled a "Sorry," before gesturing for her to continue.

"Anyway, we got the place cleaned up, and life went normally from there. There were a couple of Fire Nation incidents but nothing too major,"

"What Fire Nation incidents?" asked Katara.

"Eh, just a visit from some Admiral who looked somewhat like a monkey, and then another visit from your boyfriend's sister,"

"Would you stop referring to Zuko as my boyfriend? It's getting really annoying," snapped Katara.

Suki smirked. "The joys of having someone with a relationship to torment,"

"Oh, shut up. Haru, your turn,"

"Right, well we got back to the village and won it back from the Fire Nation. It was a tough battle but we won it anyway,"

"You won back your village? Great! I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks again, Katara, for everything,"

"No problem,"

"Don't flirt Haru, she's taken,"

Katara and Haru turned in unison and grinned at the young monk who was now standing behind them.

"Hey Aang, feeling better?"

"A little," replied the Avatar. "Listen, so many people died honourably here, and so many people from the Fire Nation that we helped kill just for doing what they were told to  
do—"

"Oh sure, bring on the depression, why don't you," said Sokka, who had finally returned with a peach in one hand.

"About time," muttered Suki.

Aang rolled his eyes and continued. "We really should have a ceremony or something down by the lake in front of the Fire Palace. It'll make everyone feel better knowing that their friends who didn't survive will be remembered,"

"Great idea, Aang," said Katara. "How and when do we do this?"

Aang shrugged. "Tonight, if possible. I can't take these nightmares anymore! They're driving me nuts! Hopefully, I'll be able to live properly again when I know we've honoured the dead properly,"

The others nodded. "What do you want us to do?" asked Sokka.

"Haru, Suki, you two spread the word. Sokka, come with me to the Fire Palace and help me find some candles—it'll be deserted by now and hopefully it'll have the other stuff we need. Katara, you have to go and persuade Zuko to come tonight,"

"Uh...why am I left to persuade Zuko?"

"Because he's your boyfriend and because you've got the power of persuasion needed to persuade some one as stubborn as Zuko," answered Sokka as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Shut up," she muttered.

"Come on, Katara, you've got the easy job," said Aang.

"Yeah…but why should I force him to go if he doesn't want to?"

"Because he's the Fire Lord now!" said Aang. "I think he may have forgotten because of everything that's happened, but his father's dead, his uncle's…erm…dead…his sister's missing—there's no one to take the throne, but him! And if he doesn't, who will? _Someone _with a decent mind has to because really, I don't wanna have to stop another war,"

"Zuko's the Fire Lord now?"

"Not officially, but yeah,"

Katara sighed. "Alright, I'll go now, at least the guy isn't mad at me anymore," and with that, Katara stood up and made her way towards Zuko's tent.

Aang turned to the others. "Okay, let's go,"

* * *

"Hi,"

"Hi," muttered Zuko, lying on his mattress and staring at the ceiling and not turning away from it as Katara entered the tent.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"No,"

"Still depressed, huh?"

"What does it sound like?"

Katara smiled at him grimly before speaking up again. "You know that you're the Fire Lord now, right?"

Zuko turned his head to look at her. "What?"

"Well, there's no one here who's eligible for the throne now that your father's dead, is there?"

Zuko stared at her. "What about my sister? She's still—"

Katara shook her head. "We don't know where she is—she went missing some time after the comet exploded, and seriously Zuko, would you really give your sister the Fire Nation throne?"

"No,"

"Didn't think so,"

There was a small silence between the two—one in which Zuko turned back to the ceiling and in which Katara began to twiddle her thumbs before approaching Zuko.

"Have you even left this tent yet?" asked Katara finally.

"Only when I've needed to,"

"Hm…"

There was another silence, this time it was one that Zuko broke.

"What are you in here for, Katara?"

"No reason, I just wanted to see how you were doing," answered the girl, looking up at the canvas above her.

Zuko scoffed. "Ha…ha…nice try, Katara, what are you really in here for?"

"What, I'm not allowed to see how my…uh…good friend's doing after such a bloody war?"

Zuko turned to her again. "_Just _a good friend?"

"Yeah, well, I'm getting sick of the words 'girlfriend' and 'boyfriend' because Sokka and Suki won't shut up about it," said Katara bitterly.

"Who's Suki?"

"I'll introduce you two some other time when she's decided to give us a break," answered Katara.

Zuko turned back to the ceiling as she said this. "Right…" he said slowly as Katara finished. "So why else are you in here? Other than coming to see how I'm doing?"

Katara sighed. "Aang wants to hold a ceremony tonight for everyone who died," she said. "We wanted you to come too…help you, well, pull yourself together over the fact that _he's _gone,"

"I'm not going," said Zuko almost instantly. "There's _no way _I'm going to a stupid ceremony that a twelve year-old kid planned,"

"Why not?"

"Why should I?" he grumbled. "There's no reason for me to go,"

"Yes there is," said Katara softly, sitting down next to him. "You've lost some one so important to you, you really should go so it's easier for you to say good-bye,"

"I'm not going," he snapped.

There was another pause. "You don't want to say good-bye, do you?" said Katara, realising why the young man was so reluctant to go. "Zuko, it's okay to say good-bye to some one you've lost. It makes everything easier to live with,"

Zuko said nothing.

"Zuko, listen, your uncle died with honour. Honour that shouldn't be ignored by skipping the ceremony planned to remember him and everyone else. Please Zuko, remember your uncle at the ceremony, because trying to forget him now is the worst thing you could do,"

Still, Zuko said nothing.

"Zuko?"

Nothing.

"Zuko?"

Still nothing.

"_Fire Lord _Zuko?"

"Don't call me that," snapped Zuko.

"Alright then, please go to the ceremony? For your uncle? And you're the Fire Lord now anyway; really you should be made to come,"

"Good point," said Zuko, "I'm the Fire Lord now, and I'm not going to go,"

"Why are you like this, Zuko?" asked Katara exasperatedly. "Why won't you just go to the ceremony, honour your uncle's memory and then try to live normally again?"

"Because I can't live normally!" snapped Zuko, sitting up suddenly. "Nothing in my life has ever been normal! My uncle was probably the only person who wanted me to a have a normal life and now that he's gone it's just…argh!"

"Zuko it's okay, I know what you're going through—"

"No, you don't," said Zuko quietly. "Uncle Iroh was my only real family and now that he's gone…it's like I never had one to begin with…"

Katara smiled at him and kissed his cheek lightly. "He wasn't your only family, Zuko, we're here too,"

Zuko sighed and placed an arm around her shoulders. "I know…it's just that…"

"You don't have to explain; Uncle Iroh was a great man and was more of a father to you than your real father was. Losing him this suddenly makes it seem like he abandoned you, but he didn't, he would _never _abandon you, even though he's gone now. When I lost my mother, Gran-gran told me that she would always be there, watching over me and giving me small shoves in the right direction—your uncle will do the same for you,"

There was another silence.

"I'll go," said Zuko finally. "Thanks Katara,"

"My pleasure, your majesty,"

"Stop that,"

"Sorry,"

* * *

Aang had everything ready by sunset that night. He gathered everyone by the lake and in the orange glow of the setting sun, they stood, lighting each candle and setting it afloat on the lake, each in a small brown bowl.

Zuko stood back and watched Iroh's candle float away from the shore in waters that were almost completely still, the only ripples caused by the small bowls as they floated through the clear water. Katara leant against him as he stepped back, and Zuko's arm found its way around her shoulders again, as they watched the hundreds of tiny flames float almost effortlessly on the water.

The whole ceremony was just so…peaceful, so tranquil, so solemn.

Aang stood in front of the small crowd and cleared his throat. "Each flame here," he said, "represents each honourable life that was lost in the stupid, pointless war that ended just two days ago. Each life lost can never be replaced and here we stand now, to honour them all, every one of them. All we can do now is thank them for being there and remember them for leaving us the way that they did. We pray to the gods that they may rest in peace and we pray that there will be nothing like this again,"

"What now?" asked Katara quietly as Aang finished his speech.

Zuko shrugged. "Everything's different now--I guess you'll be heading back to the South Pole soon?"

"I guess so," she answered, looking up at him. "I can't leave though, not yet,"

"Why not?" asked Zuko. "You haven't seen your grandmother in about a year, you have to go back and see her and the rest of your village,"

Katara shook her head. "I can't leave you, not while the Fire Nation's still messed up like this. Next thing you know, you'll be dead from a successful assassination attempt. I don't want to leave you anyway,"

"Katara, I'm glad that you want to stay with me, but you can't," said Zuko.

"Why can't I?"

"Because…you can't!" said Zuko, unable to think of any other reason. "You have a family to go and see, I don't want to come between you and them,"

Katara smiled softly. "You know, that's funny, Aang said the exact same thing when Sokka and I first found him,"

Zuko smirked. "Well that's great, but you're not going to stay here with me if it's going to stop you from seeing your family,"

"What about you? You'll have no family if I go, I'll stay for a few more months, alright? _At least_ a few more months,"

Zuko rolled his eyes but smiled softly. "Good luck trying to convince your father into letting you stay,"

Katara smiled again and looked back out at the sparkling lake to watch the candles drift away. The sun had set now, and now that it was dark, the lake looked even more beautiful that it had done to begin with.

She felt Zuko stroke her hair lightly and she heard him whisper, "Good-bye, Uncle Iroh, we'll meet again some day…"

* * *

"_This is our sad good-bye,  
__(This is our sad good-bye)  
But it's not their good-bye…"_  
Our Song, Goodnight Nurse

**

* * *

It's official now, I'm never going to be able to listen to that song again without at least one tear falling. Right well, the last chapter will be up by later this week (Alleluia! Thank God for Term Break!) Or by early next week if I get an unexpected dose Writer's Block, and for some strange reason, I have that annoying feeling again—the one that says 'you so screwed this up,' (shrug)**

**R'n'R**

**JJ**


	29. Coda: Maestoso

**Hey Guys!**

**Here is the last chapter of this story! I'm glad you guys enjoyed the whole thing, or most of if not all of it. Thanks for all your support and all your kind reviews, and now, your last chapter! **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: For the last time (in this story, literally) I don't own anything!**

**

* * *

**

**Coda: Maestoso **

**Maestoso- **majestically

**

* * *

**

"_Out of the darkness and into the sun,  
But I won't forget the place I've come from,  
You've gotta make a wish,  
Take a chance,  
Make a change,  
And break away,"  
_Break Away, Kelly Clarkson

* * *

The sun had barely risen when Katara awoke the next day. The ceremony that had taken place the day before had really depressed her and now, here she lay with only two things running through her head—how depressed she was, and how the hell she was going to convince her father to let her stay in the Fire Nation with Zuko.

Katara sighed again and smoothed back her hair for no particular reason as she thought about her predicament. Her chances of convincing her father to let her stay were slim to none. It would take a miracle for her to pull it off. Maybe she could just do this the old fashioned way and just ask her father if she could…

She began to laugh at herself when she realised the possibility of _that _idea working. There was no possible way that her dad would let her stay just by her asking nicely, no way. The men in her family were _way_ too overprotective of her to let her stay with Zuko _that _quickly.

"Alright, enough, I GET IT!"

Katara jumped as the silence of the early morning was shattered by the sound of Zuko's annoyed and outraged voice. She struggled out of her sleeping bag stuck her head through the tent flap to see what on earth had made Zuko so angry at the same time as several other sleepy heads.

There Zuko stood, not too far from the campfire, flames erupting from his tightly clenched fists and glaring at a man not much older than himself. Obviously the new Fire Lord had already had enough stress for the morning.

_Must_ _have_ _been_ _a_ _lot_ _of_ _stress_, thought Katara noting that the sun still wasn't up completely.

Blearily, she stumbled to her feet and rushed forward to Zuko to stop him from burning the man to a crisp. She placed a hand on his (Zuko's) shoulder and mouthed at the man that he should leave in case Zuko got any angrier. The man nodded, bowed to the fuming Fire Lord, and scuttled off without another word.

Zuko turned to her and glared. "What?" he spat.

"What do you mean 'what'?" she asked. "What's with you?"

Zuko said nothing. Instead, he looked away from her and stared at the roaring flames that was the campfire.

"Zuko, come with me," she said, taking his hand and leading him away from the camp.

Zuko sighed huffily but followed her anyway. She led him through the empty streets of the Fire Capital and back to the lakeside where they had held the ceremony the previous night. Some of the candles, though now burnt out, were still floating around the middle of the large lake.

Katara sighed at the scene and sat down on the lake shore, pulling her knees up to her chest. She tugged on Zuko's hand, and he sat down next to her and stared sulkily out at the lake's still surface.

"You're really stressed out, aren't you, Zuko?" said Katara, destroying the small silence, broken only by the few birds twittering about in the trees.

"What does it look like?" grumbled the teen irately.

"Zuko, it's been a less than a day since you found out you're the Fire Lord, what could have possibly made you _this _stressed already?"

"The number of bloody irritating messages from world leaders that are either telling me they'd be glad to help rebuild and sort out the Fire Nation or telling me that I'm dead if I start another war," snapped Zuko.

"Why? How many have you got?"

"Not sure, but the first one came and rudely woke me up before daybreak,"

Katara smiled at him grimly. "Look, I know how stressed you are, you've just been dumped a huge responsibility, but please, Zuko, don't freak out like that again," she said, "You almost burnt that guy to a crisp when you lost it earlier, you really scared him,"

"Katara, I can't stand this! It hasn't even been one day and I'm already being driven insane! Why the hell am I stuck with this damn job anyway?"

Katara leaned in towards him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "You're stuck with it because you are," she answered. "You're stuck with it because your father was the previous Fire Lord. I know you hate it at the moment, and I know you think that there's no possible way you'll be able to be a good Fire Lord when your father was an insane megalomaniac, but you'll live through it, you know you will. So what if you're father was never a good role-model for you, your uncle was. How would he rule the Fire Nation?"

Zuko didn't answer.

"Besides, I'm staying with you for another two months before I go back home to my family, I'm here to make sure you survive the worst part of this,"

Again, Zuko didn't answer. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him instead. He felt better when she was with him, he felt…comforted, safe, even though it was he who wanted to protect her.

The two teenagers sat together in silence for several moments watching the ripples the wind made on the water. Katara leant against him, laying her head on his shoulder, and Zuko, out of habit, began to absently stroke her hair.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"Not much, but better," said Zuko after a moment. "Have you told your father you want to stay?"

Katara sighed. "No, I haven't told anyone yet,"

"How are you planning to convince him to let you stay?"

Katara shrugged. "Dunno, but I will anyway, I refuse to leave you ruling such a screwed up country by yourself,"

"Speaking of ruling the country alone," said Zuko after a second, "when everything's back to normal, they'll be expecting me to marry. A number of people have already asked me if…

"If what?"

"If…you're my first choice,"

Katara looked up at him and blinked. "Didn't see _that _coming,"

"Is that sarcasm?"

"No, really, I didn't see that coming,"

"Katara, come on, you know that they'll be expecting me to—"

"Not like that," interrupted Katara with a slight air of irritation, "No, I didn't think you would end up mentioning something like that in a situation like this, are you feeling okay?" She leant forward and tried to place a hand on his forehead to check his temperature.

"Katara, stop it, I'm serious,"

Katara smirked. "Right, just checking," She looked back out onto the lake and sighed. "Am I your first choice then?" she asked after a slight pause.

"I don't know," said Zuko, "Are you?"

Katara looked up at him and mock-pouted. Zuko couldn't help but smile as he leant in and pressed his lips lightly against hers.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked when he broke away.

Katara smirked. "Can I have it in a sentence please?"

Zuko kissed her again and said, "_You_ are my first and only choice,"

Katara smiled up at him and leant in for another kiss when—

"If you two are gonna make out, do it where I can see you. I don't want anything happening between you two happening behind my back,"

There it went, the almost perfect moment, up in smoke. Katara sighed heavily and turned to face her brother. "What do you want Sokka?"

Sokka shrugged. "Just to find out where you were," he answered. "Anyway, I'm here now, you can continue,"

Katara glared at her brother incredulously. "There's no point now, you idiot, the moment's already been ruined thanks to you,"

Sokka smirked. "My pleasure,"

Katara harrumphed angrily and stood up. She dusted her robe from invisible soot and stormed off towards the camp.

Zuko stared after her and then turned to Sokka. "Why do you annoy her so much?" he asked.

Sokka shrugged. "I'm her brother, it's my job," he said. "And besides, have you never annoyed _your_ sister to the brink of insanity,"

Zuko thought on this for a moment. All those times he had tortured Azula just for the fun of it seemed so far away, but nevertheless the boy had a point.

"I see," he said before getting up himself and heading off to follow Katara.

"Zuko wait,"

"What?" he asked, turning around.

Sokka glared at him. "Our father may have allowed you to be with Katara, but I swear Zuko, hurt a hair on her head and you'll have me, dad, Bato and the Avatar after yours, got it?"

Zuko sighed irritably. "Bloody hell, I get the point! You've threatened me several times already, you think I still don't have the fact that you're overprotective of her through my head? For the love of Agni, I _won't_ ever bloody hurt her! Is this even getting through to your brain?"

The two boys glared at each other, as if trying to stare the other down, before Zuko turned and left. Sokka glowered at his retreating back before muttering to no one in particular, "I'm watching you, Zuko,"

His conscience kicked in again. _Let it go, Sokka, just leave the both of them alone. Let it go._

* * *

"Dad?" 

"Yes Katara,"

"I need to ask you something,"

"Shoot,"

"Promise not to get mad?"

"Depends on what you ask me, really,"

Katara took a deep breath braced herself for the explosion that might follow. "First of all, when are we leaving for the South Pole,"

Hakoda thought on this for a moment. "In a couple of days, I think, why?"

"Ugh, you know what, screw it," said Katara, massaging the bridge of her nose. "There's no possible way that you'd let me, so I'm just gonna save myself the time and go," She turned around and lifted the flap of the tent to leave, but Hakoda caught her shoulders and steered her back inside. Katara sat down on the mattress and buried her face in her hands.

"Does this have anything to do with Zuko?" asked Hakoda, crouching down so that he was eye-level with his daughter.

Katara sighed and mumbled a "yes," into her palms.

"What about him?"

Katara looked up into her father's face and took in a gulp of air. "I was going to ask if I could stay here in the Fire Nation with him…just until it isn't so mucked up here. I don't want him ruling this country alone, with no one he knows enough to trust,"

Hakoda frowned. "What about his uncle?"

Katara looked away from her father and to the floor. "Uncle Iroh's kinda…gone,"

"What? Since when?"

Katara turned back to her father and stared at him incredulously. "Does news travel _that _slowly around here?"

Hakoda shook his head. "No Katara, it doesn't go around slowly, it's just that so many people died in the war it's hard to keep track of the deaths,"

There was an awkward pause.

"So…can I stay?" asked Katara after a moment.

"If it makes you feel better sir, she won't be staying here alone,"

The two turned to Aang, who had just entered the tent.

"Avatar," greeted Hakoda with a bow.

"Hey Aang," said Katara. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you," answered Aang. "You guys are leaving in a couple of days, aren't you? I came to find you so I could tell you that I'm staying here for a few weeks,"

"How come you're staying?" asked Katara.

"I'm the Avatar, and the Fire Nation's really screwed up; I have to stay and help sort it out,"

"I see…"

Hakoda turned back to his daughter. "Katara, why would you want to stay here? Don't you want to go and see your grandmother?"

Katara sighed again and looked back at the floor. "Dad, as much as I miss Gran-gran, I can't leave, not until I know that Zuko will be able to rule this country without being killed by a successful assassination attempt. He can't trust anyone around here, and without his uncle, he's here alone,"

"Are you really sure you want to stay?"

Katara nodded.

Hakoda thought for a moment or two. "Katara, you've travelled the entire world and you've helped the Avatar master waterbending. You've been through much more than anyone I know, I trust you…will you be okay here?"

Katara looked back at her father hopefully and nodded.

Sighing, Hakoda turned to Aang. "Avatar, if you don't mind me asking, keep an eye on her while she's here, alright? I want her back at the South Pole in two months at the most, bring her back in one piece, okay?"

Aang grinned. "No problem,"

Katara stared at her dad incredulously. "You're actually letting me stay?"

"Of course," said Hakoda, smiling at his daughter. "You've proven yourself to be a strong, confident young woman. You can hold your own here in the Fire Nation, and with the Avatar and the Fire Lord both looking out for you, I'm sure you'll be fine,"

"Oh dear gods," she whispered, and with that, she flung herself into her father's arms. Hakoda smiled and patted her back comfortingly.

"Thank you so much, dad," she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Katara, you have made me a _very _proud father. Now be careful while here, alright?"

Katara nodded. "I will, I promise, thank you, dad, thanks so much,"

Hakoda smiled again and pried Katara off him. "Go, tell Zuko,"

Katara nodded eagerly and scurried out of the tent to find Zuko. Once he was sure she was out of earshot, Hakoda turned to Aang. "Keep an eye on her and Zuko,"

Aang grinned and nodded.

"No problem,"

_

* * *

_

Mother,

_I'm sure you must have heard by now but the war is finally over. Fire Lord Ozai has been defeated, the Avatar has won, it's all over._

_You'll be glad to know that Katara and Sokka are both alright and in one piece. Katara is now an accomplished waterbender. I was told that it took only a few lessons for her to become the waterbending master she always wanted to be. She trained Aang over their travels and eventually helped him to master waterbending._

_Sokka is no longer the inexperienced warrior, but a well trained one—trained in fighting styles from all over the world. He did as he was told and took care of his sister and the Avatar very well. _

_You should be proud of the both of them, as I am._

_You will be shocked to hear, however, that Katara has found love in the young man that was chasing them all over the world. I was told that he stopped and joined the Avatar and helped him to master firebending, but one can never be too sure that he is the one for her. _

_He is now the current Fire Lord, and as he is under very the close watch of the Avatar, I'm sure he will rule the Fire Nation wisely—wiser than his father at least._

_Katara has decided that she will be staying in the Fire Nation with the new Fire Lord and the Avatar until the Fire Nation is back to normal. Reluctant as I am to let her do so, I believe that she will be fine. Sokka, being the overprotective big brother he was raised to be, threw a fit when she told him, but he settled down eventually. _

_She will be at the South Pole two months from now._

_Best wishes to the rest of the village. We (Sokka and I) will be back in the South Pole in a couple of weeks._

_Hakoda_

* * *

The next two days passed by quickly, and in no time at all, Katara, Aang and Zuko were standing on the Fire Capital's docks wishing farewell to the last few soldiers departing the Fire Nation. 

Sokka and Hakoda were among the last to leave along with Bato and several other water tribe soldiers.

"Are you sure you want to stay?" asked Sokka for the hundredth time.

"For the last time, Sokka, yes, and don't worry, I'll be fine," answered Katara giving her brother one last hug. Behind her back, Sokka glared at Zuko and mouthed another death threat. Zuko rolled his eyes and mouthed a retort.

"Be careful around here, alright?" said Hakoda giving his daughter a kiss on her forehead. "Be safe, and look after yourself—Aang, be sure that she does,"

Aang grinned. "I will, you two had better get going, you're holding up the ship,"

"Right, well, we'll see you two in a couple of months, maybe sooner, okay?"

"We will,"

"Take care of yourself, Katara," said Sokka as he and his dad boarded the iron ship.

"For the last time, Sokka, I'll be fine,"

"You'd better!" yelled Sokka over the noise of the anchor being hoisted.

Katara waved to them as the ship began to sail. "Bye! We'll miss you!"

"See you in two months or less!" called Aang waving at them as well.

And there the three of them stood, Aang and Katara waving at Sokka and Hakoda, and Zuko standing behind the Avatar and the waterbender, all three of them watching the ship sail off and disappear into the horizon.

_Fine_

**There you go guys! It's done! Procerus Minuet is done! Thanks again for all your reviews and support, especially to Vicki So who gave me the idea of lengthening 'Music' and to all my constant reviewers! Just in case anyone out there wants to sue me: I do not own any of the quotes or the characters that I used. All I own is the plot, which is now finished.**

**The votes have been counted, and the sequel has won! For those who are eager to read it, look out for Procerus Fermata, coming sometime in May! Thanks again loads, guys!**

**Later!**

**JJ**


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